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SELF BUILDING 



THBOUGH COMMON-SENSE METHODS 



BY 



CORRILLA BANISTER 




BOSTON 
LEE AND SHEPARD 

1904 






OCT 22 1904 
OooyrfsM Emrv 

OLA83 <^XXo. No. 

I COPY B 



Copyright, 1904, by Corrilla Banister. 

Published November, 1904. • 



All Bights Reserved. 



Self Building. 



NortoooQ $resg 

J. S. Cashing & Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 

Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



11 



PREFACE 

A celebrated preacher once began his ser- 
mon with these words: "I am standing before 
you like a tree. Many of you have come with 
little hatchets, and when you go out of this 
church some one among you will say, c I did not 
quite like that remark about card parties/ Out 
comes your hatchet and off goes the first limb. 
Another will say, c That remark was not in good 
taste.' Again the hatchet, and another branch 
falls; and so on until nothing but the trunk 
remains." 

Whenever, in my presence, the hatchets of 
human opinion are raised against a strong, noble 
oak, I recall those words, and remember that 
the preacher asked his hearers to bury their 
hatchets and place themselves in a receptive 
attitude, that they might be guided aright in 
the search for truth. 

I was made whole in health through these 
various methods of body building, — physical, 
mental, and spiritual health alike being devel- 



PREFACE 

oped, — and in thankfulness of heart I have felt 
impelled to point the way to those yet in the 
shadow, and to help in uplifting the wanderers 
who are straying in the wilderness of physical 
misapprehension and error. When you have 
read the message, I pray that you will go with 
me through the valleys of sensuous allurements 
and over the storm-beaten mountains of ill- 
directed passion and ambition, and gather and 
bring safely back into the path which leads to 
life those mistaken and erring ones who know 
not " the peace of God, which passeth all under- 
standing." 

If we do this with our hearts full of love, we 
have the promise that we shall see the glorious 
face of the Master-Shepherd, and be received 
into the heavenly fold, for He said, " Inasmuch 
as ye have done it unto one of the least of these 
my brethren, ye have done it unto me." 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTSK FAOK 

I. Physical Perfection 7 

IT. Freedom 20 

III. Food 35 

IV. Vibration 52 

V. Simple Living ....... 63 

VI. Bathing 78 

VII. Environment 89 

VIII. Correspondence . 106 

IX. Radiations 112 

X. Color 126 

XI. Concentration 140 

XII. Meditation 158 

XIII. Breathing 172 

XIV. Harmony 188 



SELF BUILDING 

THROUGH COMMON-SENSE METHODS 



CHAPTER I 

PHYSICAL PERFECTION 

IN these days of advanced ideas we know that 
a person must possess a perfect physical body 
before the brain can do its best work. Spiritual 
unfoldment depends largely upon the ability of 
the brain to reason correctly. As threefold be- 
ings, physical, mental, and spiritual, living in the 
physical body, we inherit great powers, which we 
are not manifesting, but which will come into 
activity when we mentally demand wisdom and 
attain a more spiritual plane. We have to learn 
the import of the words of the Master, spoken 
nineteen hundred years ago, before we can teach 
those "which have eyes, and see not; which 
have ears, and hear not." 

The best inheritance that a mother can give her 
child is a " sound mind in a sound body." The 
brain, stationed in the citadel on the hill, has 

7 



SELF BUILDING 

authority over its officers and men, — the nerves 
and muscles, — and it must act before a single 
voluntary muscular movement can be made. In 
beginning with Physical Culture, we are really 
taking the first step towards strengthening and 
increasing the power of the active brain fluids. 
By exercising the different muscles of the body 
three times daily we learn mental concentration, 
which most persons lack to an alarming degree. 
Physical culture is brain culture, inasmuch as 
physical inharmony is largely due to the 
deterioration of the gray matter which we so 
thoughtlessly abuse and waste. 

Many years ago I visited a wonderfully pre- 
served woman who practised and taught Physical 
Culture. She kept old age at bay, seeming to 
grow more beautiful with advancing years. At 
the age of sixty-two she was as lithe and supple 
as a girl of twenty, with cheeks that rivalled the 
roses on her table. She showed me a photograph 
of herself taken before she gave her attention to 
Physical Culture, and it did not seem possible 
that the brilliant woman who stood before me 
could have been the thin, round-shouldered, dull- 
eyed invalid shown in the photograph. 

Her terms excluded all but the wealthy, and 
although my desire to acquire this health-giving 

8 



PHYSICAL PERFECTION 

power was strong, I felt that I must wait, and 
hope that the future would bring the teacher. 

As if in answer to the thought, Dr. C , of 

New York, came to my house in search of board. 
He was forming a private class in Physical Cul- 
ture for the instruction of ladies, and this class 
was to be held in a club-house not more than a 
block from my home. He agreed to teach me 
in return for his board. When I began the class 
work I located at once the weak spot in my 
body, which some of our best physicians had been 
unable to do ; and I met numbers of women at 
the gymnasium who had also been helped. The 
wife of a wealthy ranchman was cured of a cough 
in a few weeks ; children with spinal troubles 
seemed to grow better with each lesson; and I 
deplored the fact that this opportunity was not 
open to the poor. 

A Russian lady came to Boston not long ago 
to teach the art of attaining youthful health and 
vigor. From her face one would judge her to be 
a woman of thirty-five, while her body seemed 
to belong to a girl of eighteen; she was really 
seventy-five years old. Her beauty was a strong 
argument in favor of her method of Physical 
Culture for retaining mental and physical powers 
in their original strength and activity. 

9 



SELF BUILDING 

It is not within the scope of this work to give 
in detail any particular course to be followed, 
but I will point out a few general principles upon 
which to act. Physical Culture does not mean 
athletic training; it is a persistent effort to 
reach physical perfection through our daily 
activities. The average individual uses certain 
muscles, neglecting others, and the province of 
gymnastic exercise is to bring the whole body 
into harmony by training the disused mem- 
bers. 

For instance, the ball-and-socket joints require 
daily exercise to keep the lime deposits from 
accumulating. When old people complain of 
stiff fingers and knees, it means that in the past 
they have not taken sufficient exercise to prevent 
these accumulations. Proper exercise, coupled 
with copious drinking of pure water, will tend 
to keep this old-age matter washed away. Dis- 
tilled water is said to be the best beverage for 
grown people, because of its freedom from 
calcareous substances. 

An artist in Maiden, Massachusetts, told me 
that for years her neck had been stiff, rendering 
it almost impossible for her to turn her head 
from side to side. While at the World's Fair, 
in Chicago, she visited the art rooms, which were 

10 



PHYSICAL PERFECTION 

crowded, and, being unable to turn her whole 
body freely when she wished to look at some 
particular object she was compelled to attempt 
to turn her head in spite of the pain the move- 
ment caused. To her surprise the stiffness 
disappeared within two weeks, and the trouble 
has not returned. The constant exercise of the 
muscles and tendons of the neck accomplished 
for her what many physicians, with their blisters, 
lotions, and tonics, had failed to do. This was 
certainly a pleasant method of healing. 

In all our cities are places where the Swedish 
movements are used in the treatment of disease. 
Machinery does the work of masseurs, and all 
hospitals should be provided with proper facili- 
ties for such treatment. 

Certain exercises should be taken each day 
according to our several needs. The force of 
gravity is constantly pulling the organs down- 
ward, and we should raise them by bringing the 
body into line many times daily. Easy-fitting 
garments should always be worn. 

Walk down Huntington Avenue, Boston, and 
you will see a large number of institutes devoted 
to healing by osteopathy. Its adherents claim 
that nearly all forms of disease are caused by 
abnormal pressure occasioned by some form of 

11 



SELF BUILDING 

spinal curvature, and the osteopath's method 
of cure is by treating the portion of the spine 
governing the affected part of the body. In 
New England this method is very popular. 
Many like methods of cure might be cited, 
among which is one that involves the manipula- 
tion and spreading of the toes. 

A well-known teacher of the principles of 
Delsarte, who had been an invalid for many 
years, was urged by a friend to try osteopathy. 
Being unable to leave her room, she could not go 
into a class, but she wrote to one of the best 
teachers to learn her terms. The answer was, 
" One hundred dollars a day." Despite the 
almost prohibitive price she resolved to make 
the trial, and the result was that after one day's 
lessons and a few months' application she 
became well and happy. She could not stay 
idly at home when so many sick women wanted 
the help which she could give, and in the name 
of the one Source of Light she is now teaching 
most earnestly the highest form of devotional 
muscular movements of the human body ; that 
is, concentration upon some helpful thought 
while taking exercise. 

A proper spinal poise is essential at all times. 
I once heard a lady remark that she dated her 

12 



PHYSICAL PERFECTION 

spiritual development from the day that she was 
taught how to hold her body in line. When sit- 
ting, keep spine, back of neck, and the shoulders 
in a perfectly straight line. This will prevent 
undue pressure from falling on any one part of 
the spine. In the daily work of a stenographer, 
typewriter, or sewing-machine operator, an erect 
position will be found both easy and healthful. 
The most rapid stenographer I have known, one 
who has done marvellously heavy work, tells me 
that her strength was retained by keeping her 
body in perfect line. When riding in a car do 
not lean back against the seat, as you thus deplete 
your strength by throwing the pressure on the 
lower part of the spine. Once, on my way to 
give a lesson, a young lady in the same car 
begged me to lean back and rest. I answered, 
" No, I cannot afford to give my strength to the 
electric car; it has enough power without taking 
mine." 

To gain poise of body, stand perfectly straight, 
lift the arms to a level with the shoulders, and 
draw in a deep, noiseless breath, at the same 
time rising on the balls of the feet ; come down, 
gently exhaling, and bring the arms gradually to 
the side. Be careful to keep the heels from 
touching the . floor, and balance yourself upon 

13 



SELF BUILDING 

the balls of your feet. Practise this exercise just 
before eating. 

For the head : turn to right and left ; bend for- 
ward, sideways, and backward. 

For the shoulders and chest : place hands in a 
horizontal position at the chest, raise elbows to a 
level with the shoulders, and stretch back, then 
fling vigorously to the side outwardly, allowing 
the arms to stretch to their utmost extent. Bring 
the hands back to the chest, and repeat the fling- 
ing movement. Also, place the hands at the arm- 
pits with the elbows drawn closely to the waist, 
and stretch upward, forward, sideways, and down- 
ward. The first movement may be taken with 
deep breathing. 

For the abdomen : holding the chest well up, 
and hands clasping the waist, bend the trunk 
forward, sideways, and backward, letting the for- 
ward movement counteract the backward, and 
never allowing the backward movement to be too 
great a strain. 

Take a standing position, and lower the 
body so that the heels nearly touch the hips. 
Rise slowly. 

For the lungs : inhale deeply, lifting the arms, 
slowly counting five, keeping the mouth closed. 
Exhale in like manner. Fill lungs and walk five 

14 



PHYSICAL PERFECTION 

steps while holding the breath, five steps exhal- 
ing, and five steps with the lungs empty. Repeat 
five times. 

Always breathe through the nose. Catarrh 
and kindred diseases can be avoided if one is 
careful to breathe through the nostrils even dur- 
ing conversation. The passages in the nose are 
constructed for the warming and sifting of the 
air which we draw in, and many scientists con- 
tend that one cannot take a contagious disease 
if this precaution is used. The method of vibrat- 
ing the muscles is perhaps the quickest form of 
energizing the body. 

In physical exercise of any sort, endeavor to 
enjoy it. Rejoice that you live in this beautiful 
world, and are given bodies adapted to the life 
you must lead. See the advantage of each 
exercise, for it must be appreciated to be ex- 
hilarating. 

A constant supply of pure, fresh air is 
invaluable. Let nothing impure remain in or 
about your dwelling, and every occupied apart- 
ment, especially sleeping rooms, should be 
ventilated day and night. Be cleanly in your 
personal habits ; the whole surface of the body 
should be often bathed in water at about blood 
heat. Exercise is necessary to the health of the 

15 



SELF BUILDING 

body. It is a law of being that the powers of 
both body and mind are strengthened by use 
and weakened by disuse. Rest is essential to 
both body and mind. Besides the time devoted 
to sleep, there should be hours of entire relief 
from all sorts of obligation to do anything, — 
when you can be still and muse, and seek diver- 
sion and recreation. Temperance is a binding 
law of health. Everything the All-Father- 
Mother has made is good in design and orderly 
fulfilment, but good becomes evil by misuse, 
therefore be temperate in all things. 

Lack of health is usually the result of some 
wilful violation of nature's laws. The renewal 
of the mind is most important. Physical culture 
is the primary form of mental culture. Illustrat- 
ing this truth, an Oriental teacher of psychology 
said : " Twice a day rest quietly upon your backs, 
stretched full length, and practise mental gym- 
nastics by throwing the full current of your 
thoughts upon the outlines of your body ; begin 
at the soles of your feet — up one side and down 
the other — until you come to those vital organs, 
the heart and solar plexus. Think of the latter 
as radiating perfect spiritual and physical har- 
mony through the entire structure." He also 
stated that the above method is helpful in case 

16 



PHYSICAL PERFECTION 

of illness, because a strong positive mental cur- 
rent concentrated upon a weak organ, command- 
ing the unruly member to do its work, will 
certainly send the blood rushing to the rescue, 
and thus stimulate the weak organ to a more 
harmonious action. 

Not long ago the daily press was calling 
attention to the marvellous healing powers 
exercised by a professional healer who gave 
public exhibitions in one of the most widely 
known church edifices in Boston. Being desi- 
rous of witnessing the manifestations at first 
hand, I went early and secured a seat in the 
front row of chairs directly opposite the plat- 
form. The first case will serve for my illustra- 
tion. A man claiming to be sixty-five years old 
came haltingly forward. He said that twelve 
years before he had lost the power to lift or use 
his right hand and arm, and, of course, he had 
not been able to do a day's work in all those 
years. The healer was a man of powerful 
physique, teeming with animal magnetism. 
First he gently stroked the helpless arm, then 
his blows grew heavier and heavier, and when 
the patient manifested signs of pain, the healer 
said : " Grit your teeth and bear it, for I'm mak- 
ing this arm do its duty. When you can no 

17 



SELF BUILDING 

longer stand the pain, open your mouth and yell, 
then I'll work all the harder, for I shall know 
that we are getting at the weak spot which held 
your arm a cripple. " In spite of the groans the 
operator lifted the elbow higher and higher, 
stretched the arm up and down, and passed the 
hand in a circle around the patient's head until 
the old-age deposits were broken away. Before 
the patient left the platform he lifted his arm 
and used his hand for the first time in twelve 
years. 

Will to be well, then work to throw off physi- 
cal inharmony, and you can accomplish for your- 
self what the healer did for his patient. 

A boy in Maiden had the measles. His little 
sister affirmed that she was not going to take the 
measles, and she escaped. Later in the school 
season he caught scarlet fever, but the little girl 
was firmer than before in her refusal to have 
fever just because other children were having it. 
She has escaped all the neighborhood ills, and 
the grown-up people asked their ministers if it 
were true that a child's will could ward off 
disease. 

"A sound mind in a sound body" is the high- 
est exponent of the Divine upon earth. The 
duty you owe your body is of very great impor- 

18 



PHYSICAL PERFECTION 



tance, second only to the duty you owe your 
mind. Therefore particular attention should be 
paid to both, for ability to think and reason 
depends largely upon the physical condition. 



19 



CHAPTER II 



FREEDOM 



Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow ; they toil not, 
neither do they spin : 

And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory 
was not arrayed like one of these. 

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to- 
day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much 
more clothe you, O ye of little faith ? — Matt. vi. 28-30. 

TO the frivolous slave of fashion the burning 
question is, " What shall I wear ? " and the 
same question should receive its meed of atten- 
tion from the thoughtful ones of earth. The 
Master, in the words quoted above, gives us a 
hint as to how important a place our garments 
should take in our thought. We cannot be as 
the lilies of the field literally, but so far as we 
can follow nature's laws, and send out vibrations 
of harmony and peace, so far should we "take no 
thought " for raiment. Surely the day is not 
far distant when the simple garments of earlier 
days will be worn by all, and the pioneers in the 
movement of dress reform will have ceased to be 
targets for the scoffers. 

20 



FREEDOM 

Let us " begin at the top " and consider our 
head-covering. Some one has remarked that a 
little woman in a big head-covering unconsciously 
proclaims that she wishes to increase her person- 
ality. The brain is the ruler of the entire body, 
therefore we must not stifle it with heavy hats 
or bonnets, but wear light, well-ventilated cover- 
ings over that organ. Many thinkers are now 
teaching that hat and hair pins are very injurious 
because of their pressure upon certain nerves. 
At fashionable summer resorts women dispense 
with hats entirely, going to entertainments and 
tramping over the country with uncovered heads. 
The sun is good, and they know the value of 
light and air. Another thing is noticeable : no 
one comes to the metaphysical schools decorated 
with feathers or birds or with anything which 
has caused pain or loss of life to a fellow-creature, 
for the law which rules humanitarians is that of 
love. I always grieve to see a woman with an 
aigrette on her hat, for then I remember that 
five little lives went out by slow starvation, and 
one by violence, to furnish those soft, waving 
feathers. In Florida two hundred thousand little 
mothers are slaughtered each year in the nesting 
season to furnish those much-sought ornaments. 
These feathers grow in that season, and the 

21 



SELF BUILDING 

mother is shot just after the little ones are 
hatched. 

I once heard the Secretary of the Woman's 
Suffrage League tell why her life had been given 
to the Suffrage movement. Among many inci- 
dents connected therewith she stated that at one 
time she went to hear a humanitarian lecture, 
wearing a bonnet with aigrettes on the side. 
After hearing of these little mother-birds of 
Florida, she went to her hotel and removed the 
offending ornaments, her cheeks flushed with 
shame at the thought that while working to 
free her enslaved sisters, she was herself a party 
to the murder of one of the least of them. Her 
bonnet was not so fashionable, but her conscience 
was clearer than when she was decked in stolen 
plumage. 

Taste and individuality may be exercised in 
the manufacture of a bonnet, but let it show 
that you are on the side of peace and love for 
all things. A gentleman who belonged to a 
Humanitarian Club told me that each member 
was pledged to offer his seat in the cars to any 
woman who wore a hat or bonnet free from the 
plumage of birds. 

Again, it has been proven by the best phy- 
sicians that many of our throat and lung troubles 

22 



FREEDOM 

come from overheating this part of the body. 
When the furs or feathers are removed, a chill 
comes from the sudden closing of the pores. 

Miss C was studying music abroad. She 

contracted a throat trouble. While in Paris she 
consulted an eminent specialist, who asked, im- 
mediately after his examination of her throat, 
if she wore furs. She told him that she was 
wearing them for the first time in her life. 
Treating her case with common-sense instead of 
physic, he ordered her to leave off all her feathers 
and furs, and to wear a thin net covering over 
her chest and throat. 

Surely the day is not far distant when men will 
refuse to wear heavy, stiff, closely woven felt 
hats which cause baldness, and will demand that 
their head coverings be made of thin, well-venti- 
lated material. Men of the Orient wear silk 
scarfs wound about their heads, because they have 
learned from experience that the hair, acting like 
lightning-rods, gathers electrical vitality from the 
atmosphere, and conducts it into the system for 
the use of the brain and nerves. Those who are 
inclined to question the above statement will 
please remember that Samson lost his strength 
when shorn of his hair. 

Fashion is indeed a fickle mistress, and at all 
23 



SELF BUILDING 

times a hard one to serve. In India she has even 
forced the women to burn themselves upon the 
funeral pyres of their husbands. For a long time 
we thought it was their religion which impelled 
them to such a sacrifice, but now we know that 
it was the goddess Fashion, at whose shrine so 
many American women bow in reverence. 

The bondage of corsets is little less than a slow 
torture, far less merciful than that which the 
heathen women endured. 

When the great English reform writer, Charles 
Reade, gave to the world " A Simpleton," he did 
more to help the women of his country than all 
the surgery taught or practised by Dr. Tate. 
Had Parliament acted upon the question as it 
did when " Hard Cash " called attention to the 
evils of private insane asylums, it might have 
passed a law forbidding the manufacture, sale, 
or importation of corsets. What a pity the 
Queen does not require English maidens to read 
the book before leaving boarding-school or being 
presented at Court ! She would thus do much to 
aid in the development of women. 

Undoubtedly most of the troubles peculiar to 
women would be avoided, and the now crowded 
hospitals be turned into schools for body-building, 
if the overworked surgeons were paid a salary 

24 



FREEDOM 

to keep their patients in health, and were obliged 
to return the same to the patient for any day's 
illness. This custom prevails in some countries, 
and we in America will certainly adopt it in time. 
Then physicians will teach their patients the size 
and location of the solar or epigastric plexus, and 
the evil which must follow from pressure upon 
it. Let me suggest that you borrow from your 
physician the latest book on the subject of this 
vital region. 

When the day arrives when all garments are 
hung from the shoulders, Bulwer's " Coming 
Race " will be a reality. Then nature will have 
a chance to renew the organs which are now 
pressed out of their proper positions, and we 
shall be able to resist the law of gravitation 
which tends to pull the vital organs down, and 
to lift them to their proper poise. We often 
wonder why Mrs. Folly or Miss Fashion died at 
forty-five instead of eighty ; and the answer is, 
Because of the tight, heavy clothing which pulled 
and pressed out of place the vital organs of her 
body. Consequently, instead of going through 
nature's change without ache or pain, the half- 
paralyzed body succumbed when the life current 
could no longer pass freely up and down. 

Can we improve God's idea of the beautiful in 
25 



SELF BUILDING 

the human form ? No. Let us then free our- 
selves from the worship of the goddess Fashion. 
Harmony of being will enter the temple not 
made with hands when the heart — the altar 
of love — beats in freedom, sending messages 
of strength to nerves, bones, and muscles. We 
cannot be spiritually poised with our brain force 
depleted by half. If perfectly centred physi- 
cally, mentally, and spiritually, we show no signs 
of advancing age or sickness or the desire for 
mere money or position, which endure but for 
a season. 

I cannot refrain from giving a friend's experi- 
ence with corsets. For years she had been an in- 
valid. At the earnest request of her husband she 
discarded them, and at once her health improved 
wonderfully. However, when her friends ordered 
the gowns which she was to wear as a widow, 
she was persuaded to return to servitude. They 
argued that she did not look well without them. 
She pleaded that her health had vastly improved, 
and that her husband's wish had been that she 
should not wear such death-dealing instruments ; 
but it was five to one, and her arguments proved 
futile. When she returned home, her body was 
again incased in steel and bones. She felt that 
she should pay dearly for yielding to the impor- 

26 



FREEDOM 

tunities of her fashionable friends, and, sure 
enough, a return to invalidism was the result. 

A mother sent her strong, healthy daughter 
to her fashionable relatives, that she might 
receive instruction and advantages not to be 
secured in her village home. What was the 
mother's surprise upon meeting her child again 
to find her dressed like a fashion plate, — waist 
seventeen inches, feet incased in high-heeled 
shoes much too small, and her fair face covered 
with powder. She no longer walked with the 
free step of an Indian maiden, and her first 
thought was one of shame that her mother was 
not dressed in the height of fashion. Her face 
was an open book to her mother's tear-stained 
eyes. Had her home been desolated that her 
daughter might be made a stylish woman ? She 
soon discovered that the poor girl was ill, being 
obliged to remain out of school for two or three 
days each month. She went to visit a girl friend 
in another part of the state. This girl had de- 
veloped heart disease, and a great specialist had 
ordered that the weight of all her clothing come 
upon her shoulders — nothing to be worn around 
the waist. Her gowns were very attractive, and 
the visiting friend was persuaded to adopt that 
form of dress, as a constant pain in her left side 

27 



SELF BUILDING 

indicated the same form of heart trouble. She 
soon grew well, never spending a day in bed, 
playing tennis, and driving about the country 
as in her childhood days. At the end of a year 
she again visited her relatives, and their dismay 
at her wrappers, as they were pleased to call her 
dainty empire gowns, cannot be described. They 
refused to allow her to appear in public until she 
should have " decent " garments made. In vain 
she explained that she had been free from pain 
and illness since laying aside tight garments. 
The stronger will of her elders triumphed, and 
she yielded. Soon the old sufferings returned, 
and she has since passed through hours of agony 
not to be described. She is to-day a nervous 
invalid. 

I once asked a female physician, " Why do so 
many women become almost deformed at the 
age of forty-five or fifty, their abdomens becom- 
ing so prominent?" She promptly answered: 
" Because of a partial paralysis of the abdominal 
muscles, induced by constant pressure of the 
whalebone and steel of the corset. The slight- 
est movement of the body brings these unyield- 
ing substances to bear upon the abdominal 
region ; the muscles are impeded in their work, 
and being relaxed from non-use are no longer 

28 



FREEDOM 

able to sustain the weight of the bowels. Con- 
sequently, they permit the attraction of gravi- 
tation to have its way, and pull the organs 
earthward. Because of this pressure, the poor, 
foolish creatures must endure their gross 
forms. " 

No slight attention should be given to foot- 
wear. Long ago, so it is said, a certain Pope 
had a beautiful boy gilded that he might imper- 
sonate a golden statue in a grand fete. In a 
few hours the child died, on account of the clos- 
ing of the pores. Air, the life-giver, was shut 
away from his skin. In like manner, people of 
to-day are injured by the close shoes which they 
wear. Ask your physician what the results are 
of keeping the air from any part of the body. 
He will tell you that too little care is given to 
this subject. All shoes should be ventilated. 
Some dealers supply a ventilated shoe to cus- 
tomers desiring such, and it is possible to have 
the little eyelets made just above the instep by 
the shoemaker. 

Fashion is a potent factor in the matter of 
shoes as well as corsets, and many deformed 
feet were the result of the "needle-point" shoes 
once so fashionable. W^ak-minded persons are 
often ashamed of the size of their feet, and crowd 

29 



SELF BUILDING 

them into shoes much too small. Apart from 
the injury to the flesh, corns and bunions are 
the final result from undue pressure, and the 
internal injury cannot be estimated. With the 
circulation impeded, whether it be in the feet or 
elsewhere, injury to the vital organs is likely to 
result. 

A friend told me that for two or three months 
she had suffered from a pain in her leg which 
immediately disappeared when she removed the 
suspenders which she had worn during that time. 
Tight sleeves often cause pain in the chest ; tight 
shoes frequently cause headaches, and even 
finger rings have been known to cause serious 
trouble. I met a lady who described a fainting 
fit she had had after witnessing an accident. 
The doctor who was summoned to resuscitate 
her assured her that she had chronic heart dis- 
ease, and prescribed rest and change. I asked 
several questions concerning her case, and in- 
quired if she had walked much just before dinner. 
She said that she had walked across the town, 
then had returned, and eaten her dinner in great 
haste that she might attend to another errand 
later. She had not changed her tight gown, 
made according to the dressmaker's idea of 
beauty. Her waist measured twenty-four inches, 

30 



FREEDOM 

and her weight was one hundred and sixty-five 
pounds. Last of all, her wedding ring, made 
for a slender young girl, still encircled her 
finger, and was embedded in the flesh. Acting 
upon my advice she removed her tight garments, 
and had her ring cut from her finger, and no 
return of the heart trouble has been noticed 
since. Many a headache will pass away when 
the tight, high collar is removed. These articles 
of feminine and masculine dress are exceedingly 
injurious because of their pressure on the spine 
at a vital point. 

Circulation is also retarded by doing the hair 
tightly. It should hang loosely when in the 
house that the " lightning-rods/' as the Ralston- 
ites designate the hairs, may gather magnetism 
for the brain and nervous system. 

At a dinner where the ladies were all talking 
on the subject of dress, I heard a Southern gentle- 
man say, " that the ladies of my family could 
grow feathers like the birds ! " Then thinking 
a moment he added, " Yet they would import 
famous European artists to decorate their plum- 
age, and after all it is as cheap, perhaps, to buy 
fashionable clothes." Such a remark should 
lead the thoughtful woman to ask herself if it is 
right to give so much of her time and money to 

31 



SELF BUILDING 

so insignificant and trifling a matter as rich 
apparel. Her time could be better expended 
in seeking after higher things, such as reading 
helpful books, expressing the thoughts of great 
minds of all lands, or seeking in God's world for 
the wonderful works of His hands, thereby en- 
riching her mind and heart that she might give 
more abundantly of her spiritual gifts to those 
in need of cheer and comfort everywhere. Her 
money could be better expended in supplying 
the temporal wants of her needy fellow-men. 
Her own father or husband might be the first 
to receive of the blessings she had to bestow; 
at least, she might keep them from an everlast- 
ing grind after money, money, money, in order 
that her wants might be supplied. Let dress be 
a vital question to her, but only in so far as it 
contributes to the health and happiness of her 
fellow-mortals. 

My plea is for loose garments hung from the 
shoulders. Union underwear is now common, 
and should always be worn if possible, as it does 
away with the harmful waistband. Wool should 
never be worn next to the body. Cotton, linen, 
or silk, thin-meshed, is best at all seasons of the 
year. Care should be taken in the selection of 
stockings ; they should be loose, and always white 

32 



FREEDOM 

or cream-colored. The coloring matter in hosiery 
is easily absorbed by the skin, and cases have 
been known where lameness has been caused by 
this coloring matter. The pores in the soles of 
the feet are large, and absorb foreign substances 
easily. On one occasion I placed sulphur in my 
stockings as a preventive of la grippe, and the 
yellow color was soon deposited on my handker- 
chief when I wiped the perspiration from my 
hands. Let all clothing be light in weight and 
pretty in color. 

This brings me to the consideration of the 
subject of mourning. I wish to emphasize this. 
Mourning should never be worn, for it affects 
sensitives in the most cruel manner, bringing 
them into touch with vibrations of grief and 
sorrow. Do not permit yourself to indulge in 
woe because a loved one has taken a journey 
when too negative to remain in the physical 
body. I once visited a parish where it was the 
custom for widows to wear caps and heavy black 
veils for the balance of their lives. I have heard 
them boast that they had worn these weeds of 
woe for fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five years. 
The church looked like a huge nunnery, and I 
was shocked and extremely depressed as I looked 
over the congregation, Mothers often do more 

33 



SELF BUILDING 

harm to their children by wearing sombre gar- 
ments than they can undo in years of effort. 

Let us "think on these things/ ' and reach 
out for a better understanding, that we may be 
able, even by our dress, to help others unfold 
spiritually. 



34 



CHAPTER III 

FOOD 

T"TTE must take reasonable thought for what 
V V we eat and drink. The idea should be 
constantly held in mind that if we wish to be 
free from bondage to our physical appetites 
and desires, we must cease to eat and drink for 
the mere gratification of our senses. We should 
confine ourselves to the use of that kind of food 
which enlightened observation and experience 
show to be best adapted to the building up of 
pure, healthful, and vigorous physical temples 
wherein the "soul may peacefully dwell.' ' By 
drinking pure water, and eating pure glame- 
filled 1 products of the tree and soil in which 
are no vibrations of terror and mortal anguish, 
we can hope to attain to a oneness with the 
Infinite and become truly illumined. 

Shall we live to eat or eat to live ? That 
class of people which gives a large share of 
attention to the pleasures of the table is most 

1 Glame : that which is nature's life-giving principle — a 
word coined by the Ralston s. 

35 



SELF BUILDING 

subject to the encroachment of disease, and its 
members lose ground spiritually in proportion to 
their devotion to such pleasures; while those 
who make a practice of eating such things as 
feed their bodies in the best possible manner 
have health, perfect teeth, and agreeable dis- 
positions. 

I have seen people who were conscious of such 
inner light that even the blindest might read the 
message written on the physical. The source 
of that light is love — love for all our fellow- 
creatures, and love for the poor, dumb brutes, 
because they both think and feel in a way. 
Many years ago there came to my house a man 
and his wife in search of board. They mentioned 
the fact that they were Theosophists, and would 
require for food neither fish, flesh, nor fowl. I 
wanted them to explain their religion, and their 
answer was : " We believe in Universal Brother- 
hood as taught by the Master, Christ of Naza- 
reth ; for all men were his brothers through his 
oneness with the Creator. We would guard 
even the sparrow, whose fall is marked by our 
common Father. All things which breathe the 
breath of life are sacred to us. We do not wish 
to kill, neither do we desire others to destroy 
life that we may eat." 

36 



FOOD 

This seemed ideal, but I very much feared 
they would starve at my house, where meat was 
eaten three times a day. They assured me that 
vegetarians require less food than their carniv- 
orous brothers. The man worked under great 
strain to both brain and nerve, and I believed 
they would succumb in a week, but to my 
surprise they remained in health. On one 
occasion I remonstrated with them, but they 
declared that they would rather die than eat of 
their fellow-creatures. 

Mr. George Francis Train, the " citizen of the 
world/' had a complexion like that of a girl of 
sixteen, eyes bright, and step firm and free at 
eighty. Mr. Train believed that the time is 
near at hand of which his friend Bulwer wrote 
in the " Coming Race." Vril means will, which 
is created by a healthy brain in a perfect body — 
soul-growth developed through a clean life full 
of kindness and love for one's fellow-creatures 
both great and small. 

In San Francisco a large number of people 
were stricken with a mysterious ailment. In- 
vestigation proved that they had eaten meat 
from the same butcher's shop. When the city 
authorities questioned the butcher, they were 
told that the meat was from a fine old steer ; 

37 



SELF BUILDING 

that the creature fought for his life to the very 
last, seeming to realize that his case was one of 
killing or being killed. Pain, fear, and rage had 
poisoned the meat, and had seriously affected 
those who ate it. Were we to witness the kill- 
ing of the innocent creatures in the abattoirs 
or in the small establishments of the country 
butchers, we could not allow ourselves to become 
parties to such frightful deeds. 

We ought to avoid the eating of flesh, from a 
purely humanitarian standpoint; but it can be 
proved that health and strength can be better 
preserved for an indefinite period without it. 
Let us see. Wheat contains almost the exact 
proportion of food elements necessary to the 
nutrition of the human body. Southern corn 
has a slight predominance of heat-producing 
elements ; barley a still greater predominance 
of carbonates, or heat producers. Wheat or 
Southern corn used by itself will indefinitely 
prolong life, barley with eggs will do the same. 
The nitrates, given out in such abundance in 
beef and mutton, are even more plentiful in 
cheese. A diet of milk, eggs, cereals, whole 
wheat bread, and cheese will more effectually 
sustain life in perfection of health than the 
usual diet met in the homes of the common 

38 



FOOD 

people of our land ; namely, meat, potatoes, white 
bread, and pastry, all of which abound in heat- 
producing qualities, and cause a thousand-and- 
one skin diseases. I do not desire to give a 
statistical table of foods, — you may find one at 
the office of your physician or at a public library, 
— but I do desire that you will be led to inquire 
into this most important matter. 

The food value of nuts is not duly considered. 
They are rich in proteids, and in reality form an 
excellent food when prepared in the form of 
butter to be eaten with whole wheat bread. I 
heard a man state before the Vegetarian Society 
of New York that his entire family, consisting 
of himself, his wife, and four children, had lived 
all winter on English walnuts, and that they 
had suffered neither from a day's illness nor 
even from a slight cold. He was a picture 
of health, strength, and beauty. Was it not 
Acadia for the housewife ? She had an abun- 
dance of time for lectures, reading, and outdoor 
exercise, and she could enjoy a sunset and medi- 
tate while her neighbor was struggling over a 
stove. 

I knew an old man who ate raw wheat, bar- 
ley, fruit, and nuts, taking no cooked food. He 
stated to me that in a few months after he com- 

39 



SELF BUILDING 

menced this diet a new growth of fine, dark 
hair came upon his bald head, his eyes grew 
brighter and stronger, and the lines of age 
left his face. His appearance was strikingly 
youthful. 

Captain H , of Maiden, tells me that 

during the many years he sailed on the south- 
ern seas the sailors who ate nothing but rice, 
and drank only water, were the ones who best 
bore the storm and heat. They accomplished 
more work, and enjoyed better health and 
temper, than their flesh-eating, grog-drinking 
companions. 

The plantation negro can work with the ther- 
mometer registering one hundred and seventeen 
degrees in the shade without suffering the ills 
which afflict his white brothers, who live upon 
rich, animal food, fried chicken, and ices. The 
poverty of the negro forces him to live all sum- 
mer on corn bread, sorghum, buttermilk from 
"ole missy's churn," green fruit which grows 
near the fences, and the watermelon which 
ripens in the "dark of the moon." 

The president of the State Humanitarian 
Society of Connecticut told me that the Italians 
who did the digging and hardest work done by 
men in his state ate black bread, and drank 

40 



FOOD 

water or beer. Each one occupied fully thirty 
minutes of his noon rest in devouring a large 
loaf of bread. I am reminded by this fact of a 
similar case. The president of the New York, 
Texas, and Mexican Railroad, himself an Italian, 
imported his own countrymen to perform the 
heavy labor in the building of his road. They 
were not allowed any meat, but plenty of black 
bread, macaroni, cereals, fruits, and vegetables 
were supplied. The grade was carried across 
the marshy plains of southern Texas with 
scarcely any loss of life. At the same time 
the death-rate in the construction of the Mem- 
phis and Little Rock Railroad was calculated as 
three engineers to each division, with men dying 
by hundreds. 

My own diet for eighteen months has been as 
follows : — 

Breakfast, sweet milk and Granose Flakes, or 
any preparation of wheat rolled and baked. 

Luncheon, Granose Flakes or other baked 
grain, sweet milk, two Newtons or Fig Bars, 
four to six English walnuts, and as many dates. 

Supper, baked grain and milk, and, if teach- 
ing at night followed by ten or twelve miles on 
an electric car, more nuts and dates. 

Since discarding meat, fish, and sweets, keep- 
41 



SELF BUILDING 

ing to the above diet, I have not known a day's 
illness, and am learning to use my brain as 
never before. Although my home was formerly 
southern Texas, I spent a winter in a little hall 
room in New York, never going near a fire 
except in heated lecture rooms or churches, and 
have suffered less from the cold than flesh-eaters 
do. 

Mrs. Bruce, of the Wayside Chapel, Maiden, 
has lived upon bread and milk for fifteen years. 
She will gladly tell any one how much better she 
has been since her stomach has not been taxed 
to digest heavy food. Many eminent physicians 
are discarding drugs, and giving more attention 
to the diet of their patients. A former president 
of the United States Medical Association would 
not allow his patients to eat bread made with 
yeast. Corn bread was ordered. Little salt was 
allowed to enter into the preparation of any 
viand, and neither pepper nor vinegar ; milk was 
the only animal product conceded. 

I took a room in the house of a physician 
whose success in the treatment of pneumonia and 
other lung diseases was phenomenal. The diet 
of a pneumonia patient was three quarts of sweet 
milk taken in twenty-four hours. This doctor 
claimed that four quarts in twenty-four hours 

42 



FOOD 

would cure tuberculosis, provided the patient had 
any vitality, as the milk fed the germ, and it, 
consequently, would not then feed upon the 
tissues of the lung. A strictly vegetable diet is 
ordered by doctors for victims of the whiskey or 
morphine habit. 

When we eat meat we consume a modicum of 
the excrementitious matter of the animal. Our 
own bodies are provided with organs for throw- 
ing off the waste, but we overtax them when we 
take in the waste matter which the animal had 
not thrown off before being killed. Fishermen 
often take large quantities of shell-fish from the 
mouths of city sewers ; lobsters, in fact, have 
been called the " swine of the deep," and it is al- 
most certain that poison can be carried into the 
human system in this way. Experts have de- 
clared leprosy to be neither infectious nor con- 
tagious, but state that it is produced by eating 
badly cured salt fish; and we know that the 
disease is peculiar to people who live near the 
salt water. Why take such risks when we can 
live upon clean, sweet, pure, glame-laden grains, 
fruits, and nuts, prepared in the great laboratory 
of Mother Nature ? 

All women desire to be beautiful. Let them 
deny themselves the pleasure, if such they deem 

43 



SELF BUILDING 

it, derived from the eating of gross flesh. One of 
the most prominent women of the South is seventy- 
three years old. Her eyes are bright, her cheeks 
like the down of the rose leaf ; she dances with 
a step as light as that of the youngest debutante, 
and her brain is as clear as when, fifty years ago, 
she led Washington society as the wife of a 
United States senator. She lives almost entirely 
upon oatmeal, rice, baked apples, and corn bread, 
drinking unskimmed milk. 

The queen of the Gonzales, a tribe of Spanish 
gypsies, is a woman of middle age, beautiful in 
face and form, with few equals mentally. She 
told me that she had never tasted animal food. 

Another case has come to my notice, and I 
have followed it with great interest. A farmer's 
wife in southern Alabama has three daughters : 
the two older eat animal food, while the young- 
est refuses to touch it, subsisting mainly on baked 
apples and buttermilk, never drinking tea or 
coffee. The contrast between the sisters is re- 
markable, and the mother is often annoyed by 
the questions asked by strangers, who cannot 
believe that the lovely youngest daughter is 
related in any way to her gross-looking sisters. 
The mother was heard one day to explain the 
seeming freak of nature in this way : " My two 

44 



FOOD 

older girls live almost entirely upon meat; the 
youngest cannot be persuaded to touch it. I do 
believe that is the reason her skin never sun- 
burns and her hair is so pretty." I have always 
kept trace of this family, and with added years 
the change is more marked. The two older 
women are not now as bright mentally as they 
were at twelve. They have lived upon the 
animal plane, and their flesh is coarse-grained 
and their skins muddy. The youngest is a most 
progressive woman, who has kept to a clean life, 
clean food, and clean thoughts, and her soul has 
better built the house in which she lives. 

Although sweets are said to be nourishing, 
they should be partaken of sparingly. We 
have sugar supplied to us in the fruits, and they 
are always wholesome, but the child who is 
fed on candy is certain to pay the forfeit in bad 
teeth and unhealthy skin. As sugar makes 
fat, we need a certain amount in the compo- 
sition of our food, but an oversupply must be 
thrown off, and the usual channel is the skin. 
A young person of my acquaintance, whose 
complexion was almost repulsive because of 
ugly eruptions, was completely cured of the 
trouble by simply giving up the use of 
butter and sugar for six months. I remon- 

45 



SELF BUILDING 

strated with, a mother who fed her little son 
"upon candy, cake, and pie. She replied : " What 
can I do ? He will have candy four or five 
times between breakfast and luncheon." I 
suggested giving malted milk tablets instead 
of candy, and Granose Flakes and Grape Nuts 
instead of doughnuts and cake. I told her of 
a favorite carriage horse that had been killed 
by giving him sugar several times a day. The 
mother simply wanted a little instruction. A 
few hints were enough, and in two weeks the 
child grew better tempered, the color in his 
cheeks improved, and he is outgrowing the 
harm done by his thoughtless mother. 

The need of pure food is hardly greater than 
that of pure water. In our large cities the 
water supply is usually from a near-by river or 
lake. There would be less hopelessness in the 
situation if the water were from a distance, as 
then it might be conducted to individual faucets 
with little contamination from the outside ; but 
when, as in the case of Philadelphia, the water 
supply is from a river within the city limits, 
the danger from filth contamination is great. 
Those in country places are scarcely more free. 
In such places the drainage from the house and 
stables often flows into the wells. Again, in 

46 



FOOD 

water pronounced pure by the chemists, there 
are mineral deposits which are harmful to the 
adult human being. 

At birth a child's bones are soft, but in time 
they become hardened by the lime contained in 
the water and food which is taken. When 
adult age is reached, the bones need a very 
small amount of the ash necessary to keep them 
strong. An excess of this so-called old-age 
matter is deposited in the tissues, and a slow 
process of ossification begins. Then perfectly 
pure water should be taken. This is supplied 
in fruits in considerable quantities, yet more is 
necessary. Many fine springs are supplying 
this product, and it is to be hoped that some 
day cities will furnish it free to all. Marvellous 
self-control develops when we free our bodies. 
Exercise combined with plentiful draughts of 
pure water displaces the old particles, allows 
the rebuilding of new ones, and enables us to 
obtain the best circulation of the blood. All 
the body muscles are nourished by the blood- 
vessels, and regulated by the nerves. One of 
the muscles, the heart, beats about thirty mill- 
ion times a year, and we must give Mother 
Nature all the aid possible, so that the renewal 
of the physical body every few weeks, brought 

47 " 



SELF BUILDING 

about by our manner of life, may be such that 
these temples of the soul may be more enduring 
and fit for better service. 

When we have advanced to a certain spiritual 
plane, perhaps we shall no longer desire to pam- 
per our animal appetites, and then the question 
will be, " What will aid in my spiritual unfold- 
ment ? " Could one of our leading philosophers 
have sent out those soul-awakening teachings 
with which his books are filled had he fed his 
body upon gross animal food? He says, "A 
man can teach only as high as he lives.' ' 

A sad case came to my notice a short time 
ago. In New England a delicate, refined white 
woman married a negro student, Soon after 
marriage she realized that she had been psy- 
chologized into what became to her a horrible 
relation, for her husband's nature proved to be 
that of a brute. The awakening was terrible. 
What was she to do ? Where was she to hide ? 
Her own family had cast her off, and she had 
nowhere to go, but at once she left the man. 
While living alone in one little room her child 
came. It was a woolly-headed negro. For many 
months she and the little child lived upon two 
cents' worth of cornmeal a day — nothing else. 
In three years her brain awakened to new life ; 

48 



FOOD 

new cells had been created under a higher rate 
of vibration, and through poverty, loneliness, 
and work for the helpless infant her soul un- 
folded, and she began to write upon the question 
of spiritual growth. She might never have 
reached under smiling skies her present plane of 
thought. Let us avoid a school where sorrow and 
anguish are the teachers, and rather seek to at- 
tain the heights amid the unfoldments of a happy, 
harmonious home life. Let us strive to reach 
this spiritual plane when the beauty and strength 
of youth are ours, and not wait for sorrow, old 
age, and death to bring its realization. 

There is a story of a scientist who tried the 
effect of flesh diet upon a dove, at the same time 
giving an eagle grain. "When grown, their na- 
tures were reversed. The dove became cruel, 
feeding upon mice and other small animals; while 
the eagle was gentle and kind, with no sign of 
the ferocity of its ancestors. The people of the 
Jain country, in India, have not had a murder 
committed among them for a hundred years, and 
it is a significant fact that there is not one 
butcher in that Quaker-like land with its millions 
of people. 

When I think of the mobs and murders in 
this Christian land, I say with Paul, " If meat 

49 



SELF BUILDING 

make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh 
while the world standeth." Think of the mur- 
ders in America. You ask, " Why is life not 
held more sacred?" I answer, "Animal food, 
tobacco, and whiskey, upon which the men feed, 
are responsible. " 

A prominent Health Club recommends that 
children be denied meat until they are fifteen 
years of age, claiming that meat inflames the 
passions. There is always a possibility that one 
may be poisoned by eating the flesh of an ani- 
mal killed in an excited condition, as in the case 
cited. Why is it unreasonable to claim that we 
may partake of the animal nature when eating 
flesh ? The leaders of mobs are always men who 
eat a large quantity of animal food. Take, for 
example, the beautiful state of Kentucky. There 
men cultivate the soil to produce tobacco, grain 
for the manufacture of whiskey and beer, and 
hemp to hang the poor fellow when he commits 
murder under the high pressure of anger brought 
about by a diet of meat, whiskey, and tobacco, 
the poison of which has entered into every fibre 
of his being so that he has ceased to manifest 
any but brute qualities. 

We should all give to those poorer than our- 
selves ; but by poverty I do not mean lack of 

50 



FOOD 

money, for some of the poorest people I know 
are those who have plenty of money. Look at 
the faces of the women who drive in those mag- 
nificent victorias on any fashionable street. If 
we live a white life, we shall be able to read their 
inmost thoughts, and the utter insignificance of 
the ideas which hold sway in their hearts will 
wring tears from our eyes. Are their appetites 
not pampered every day ? Think of the number 
of French chefs employed to pander to their 
tastes ! 

What wonder that Jesus was a man of tears. 
He read the thoughts of those he met, and found 
what others now find, — poverty of soul, a lack 
of trust in humanity. Unless we can help the 
children of the world to grow stronger, purer, 
cleaner in life, happiness will not dwell with 
us, and At-one-ment with the Father will be 
impossible. 

" Build thee more stately mansions, my soul, 

As the swift seasons roll ! 

Leave thy low-vaulted past ! 
Let each new temple, nobler than the last, 
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, 

Till thou at length art free, 
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea ! " 



51 



CHAPTER IV 

VIBKATION 

He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man ; he that sacri- 
ficeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck ; he that offereth an 
oblation, as if he offered swine's blood ; he that burneth incense, 
as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, 
and their soul delighteth in their abominations. — Isa. lxvi. 3. 

T)EAD the entire chapter, and mark well 
JLAj the seventeenth verse. In eating animal 
food we have caused our brother to offend, for 
some one must slay that our appetites may be 
ministered unto. 

Idols : what are idols ? When we ask God's 
blessing first upon our own children, relatives, 
homes, and earthly possessions, are not these 
gods set upon an altar ? Do we make the same 
effort to help our neighbors' children to unfold ? 
No, our first thought is for our own. We make 
idols of them. How often mothers ask me to 
help and teach their daughters, and how seldom 
they bespeak help for others. Try to lose sight 
of these idols ; think that all are your children, 
brothers, or sisters. Christ called attention to 

52 



VIBRATION 

this truth when He said, " Who is my mother ? 
and who are my brethren ? " And he looked 
round about on them which sat about him, and 
said, " Behold my mother and my brethren ! " 
How can we say that one is our child when we 
are only the means of bringing a body for the 
soul to occupy ? The action of mental vibration 
has caused the body's development, environment 
doing its part, as we shall see. Household gods 
are often taken that in the Garden of Gethsemane 
the loosest may realize that earth still holds their 
children and their people; for are we not all 
one-in-one in search of happiness? When the 
love of father or mother has ceased to enfold, 
force will come to the lonely child, for this is 
the season of unfoldment. Our very anxiety to 
help our loved ones may bind them to earthly 
conditions. Why not trust the Almighty ? 

Why do we not deposit a bank account of 
good deeds for others upon which to draw when 
earthly things fail ? Let us open one to-day in His 
name. It will be indeed a safe deposit. The 
worthy deeds done by us in the days of our 
financial prosperity return like bread cast upon 
the waters. For instance, a woman gave an 
overcoat to the husband of her old colored 
nurse. Long after, when she sent out the 

53 



SELF BUILDING 

thought for money to provide for pressing 
needs, a direct answer to her prayer came from 
his wife in the form of a five-dollar bill. 

Even among animals we perceive the law 
of kindness carried out. While visiting in the 
Cumberland Mountains the actions of a beautiful 
mare attracted my attention. No lock could 
fasten her out of the garden and apple orchard. 
If some new invention were introduced to keep 
her out, she never failed to discover the weak 
spot, and would soon walk proudly in, followed 
by a large drove of pigs. She would pull down 
an apple for herself, and then give three or four 
to her waiting friends. It was pleasant to wit- 
ness her gentle care for them, and when the 
pigs were hungry, nothing would keep her away 
from those trees. Let us be considerate towards 
those weaker than ourselves, and, like Blossom, 
teach the lesson of love. 

If we would understand how to enter into the 
vibrations of the Universal Mind, we must think 
pure thoughts, eat clean food, drink pure water, 
and govern all carnal appetites and desires. To 
attain an harmonious position we must live a 
pure life. Let us begin by drinking pure water, 
and work to induce cities to provide it for the 
citizens. Coffee and tea cost more than pure 

54 



VIBRATION 

water : give them up, for they weaken your force, 
and you need force if you would influence others 
to consider these vital questions. If people 
make a strong pull, hard pull, and a pull all 
together, this country will enter into higher 
moral vibrations than it has yet reached. 

I am told that sensitives know at once when 
they near Chicago — that city of slaughter. 
They may be sleeping in their berths until they 
come in contact with the harsh vibrations of 
pain that radiate in every direction from that 
great slaughter-house, when they awake to 
suffer until again beyond the reach of those 
pulsing throbs of anguish. We have a few such 
places in the East, and their baneful effect can- 
not be estimated. Killing animals daily for 
market, and feeding upon their flesh, create 
vibrations of murder. 

Many times I have found in the dog which 
met me at the door a perfect reflection of the 
man or woman within. I want no better insight 
into the home vibration than that which the dog 
gives. A physician once told me that he had 
watched and studied the effect of the law of 
vibration upon animals. A certain Sunday- 
school superintendent whom he knew always 
owned the meanest dogs in the village. If one 

55 



SELF BUILDING 

died, and he bought a quiet, gentle creature to 
take its place, in a short time it changed into 
a vicious animal. Years passed, and that man, 
the saint of the village, suddenly revealed his 
true character, and absconded with the funds 
intrusted to his keeping. 

In many States it is unlawful for a butcher 
to serve on a criminal jury, because, daily shed- 
ding blood, he cannot justly judge a fellow- 
creature. Let us think when we eat flesh that 
the one who murders the animal must become 
an outlaw. When an animal suffers, it sends 
out vibrations of pain, which may touch, in turn, 
our own loved ones. Wireless telepathy has 
proved that wholesale slaughter of animals in 
Chicago may cause an angry Southern man to 
slay his brother. 

Study vibrations, and we will speak less of the 
faults of others. When we condemn a weakness 
in our fellow-beings, we hold them to error, and 
make it hard for them to resist the evil influ- 
ences of our thoughts regarding their condition. 
When perfectly harmonious vibrations are sent 
out upon this earth, sickness will cease, and it 
will be possible for the "peace of God which 
passe th all understanding " to dwell in our hearts 
and minds. Men will no longer be elected to 

56 



VIBRATION 

office because they have a " pull " with the bar- 
room and money-getting element ; but pure men 
and women will meet to pass laws, doing away 
with party lines in their desire to lift humanity 
a step nearer the ideal. Then our United States 
government will no longer be a giant wholesale 
barkeeper, receiving its revenue on every gallon 
of whiskey distilled in this country. 

The government has a silent hand in each 
murder committed under the influence of whis- 
key. The coffers of the treasury are filled in 
part with the sums which the liquor sellers give 
for the privilege of selling that which inevitably 
ruins their customers. Then the commonwealth 
hangs its victim, whose anger has been inflamed 
by the liquor he drank, the vibrations of greed 
for gold having entered into the manufacture of 
the whiskey. Free yourselves, friends, body and 
soul, that you may gain strength to help break 
the shackles of greed which now bind the law- 
makers, and thus protect innocent, weak sen- 
sitives from being drawn into vibrations of 
bar-room influences. 

We cannot see the force which creates the tor- 
nado, yet its power to bring ruin and death clearly 
demonstrates this law of vibration. Many a 
human being makes his home in the very track 

57 



SELF BUILDING 

of these inharmonious mental tornadoes — vibra- 
tions which no human strength can withstand, 
since they are all the more deadly by being in- 
visible to the physical senses. We might as well 
try to see the air we breathe, yet we know the 
air surrounds us. It is the same with vibratory 
force. We know that it is working, because we 
can stand aside and watch it spend its force on 
those poor men or women who have pursued 
dollars and cents solely for personal gain, without 
thought of the result of their acts. 

A few anecdotes will serve to illustrate the 
power of vibration upon those who are striving 
to approach the perfect life. Many such are about 
us, and we should try to help them in every way 
in our power by sending thoughts of purity and 
harmony into the ether. 

The following was told me by a pupil. " At 
one time my sister and her husband were in great 
trouble. Knowing that the knowledge would 
disturb me, they agreed that I was not to be told 
of it until afterward. During that time, how- 
ever, I felt very sorrowful. Not knowing the 
cause, I could scarcely keep the tears back. I 
would awake in the night and cry, and when the 
clock struck, it gave me great pain, for it sounded 
like a death-knell. I told my husband that there 

58 



VIBRATION 

was certainly trouble in the family, or, if not, that 
something was impending. He had known the 
facts all along, but withheld them until he saw 
that I was becoming ill. He then told me 
all, and my relief from suspense was indescrib- 
able." 

A lady residing near Boston related that, sit- 
ting at her window, she felt certain that her son 
was drowning in the Charles River. She changed 
her dress, arranged a bed, and sat down to await 
the coming of the friends who were to bring him 
home. His companion had rescued and resusci- 
tated him, and brought him home very weak and 
ill to lie on the bed which his mother had pre- 
pared for him two hours before. 

While spending the winter in Del Rio, Texas, 
I awoke one morning and remarked to my sister 
that my daughter, who was a thousand miles 
away from me, was very ill. She answered : 
" You will certainly make yourself sick by imag- 
ining such things. Three days ago you received 
a letter from her, and she was then quite well." — 
" That is true," I replied ; " yet I know that she 
is suffering to-day, and will be no better for three 
or four weeks." However, as I knew the cause, 
I knew that she would recover, and I was hope- 
fully expectant. I knew that she had trans- 

59 



SELF BUILDING 

gressed a natural law, and inharmony was the 
inevitable result. A month passed ; I received 
a letter from her stating that she had been ill 
of the disease which I had mentioned, but that 
she was recovering. 

While attending a summer school, I received 
a letter from a young girl whom I loved very 
much. The message was not one of gladness 
and happiness, and the writer had a secret which 
was not mentioned. As I read it I knew that 
the girl was engaged, and expected to be married ; 
in fact, I entered into her most secret thoughts. 
The letter brought other messages than those 
which the writer had expressed with her pen. 
Later events proved the correctness of my con- 
clusions. I read this letter in Maine, and the 
writer was in the extreme South. 

On a Southern plantation a mother and her 
little child were driving in a wicker phaeton 
drawn by two horses, when a pair of mules 
drawing a heavy load bore down upon them. 
There seemed no hope of escape, as the roadway 
was narrow, and the drunken negro seated in 
the wagon was incapable of controlling his 
frightened animals. In a low tone of voice the 
mother exclaimed, " My God, we shall be killed ! " 
Her niece, lying on a couch in a house a mile 

60 



VIBRATION 

and a half away, distinctly heard the words, 
" My God, we shall be killed," and jumping to 
her feet started wildly down the lane. On 
meeting the phaeton, she inquired, "What is 
the matter ? " Her aunt told her that she had 
experienced a miraculous escape from death. 

This incident is related to show that thoughts 
are things which vibrate through the ether and 
thus reach the consciousness. We telegraph to- 
day without wires ; when the law of vibration 
is better understood, communication will be pos- 
sible anywhere. 

If we cannot live happily with our relatives 
and friends, it is better to separate from them at 
once, for we are drawn into vibrations injuri- 
ous to soul growth. Of course, there are times 
when a moral consideration is involved, and then 
there must be the personal decision for the right 
and the best. I knew a sensitive who attempted 
to live in the home of her sister, who was a most 
unhappy wife. When she arrived she was 
perfectly well, but began at once to fail physi- 
cally under the constant calls upon her sympa- 
thies. She was very ill for a long time without 
apparent cause. She had no organic trouble, 
and recovered at once when removed to a more 
harmonious environment. 

61 



SELF BUILDING 

Keep in the vibrations of workers and think- 
ers. Christ understood the laws governing 
vibrations when He chose His disciples ; also 
when He said, " Suffer little children, and for- 
bid them not to come unto me : for of such is 
the kingdom of heaven." You will awake some 
day in the atmosphere of love, innocence, and 
happiness which is sent to us from child life. 
Let us strive to create a strong, helpful atmos- 
phere of thought force which will be a lifting 
power for all creatures. 

Finally, look within yourself when the world 
seems to go wrong, for we create evil by evil 
thinking. Epictetus said : " It is the peculiar 
quality and character of an undisciplined man 
and a man of the world to expect no advantage 
and to apprehend no mischief from himself, but 
all from objects without him. Whereas the 
philosopher, quite contrary, looks only inward, 
and apprehends no good or evil can happen to 
him but from himself alone." 

Chesterfield said : " Aim at perfection in every- 
thing, though in most things it is unattainable. 
However, those who aim at it, and persevere, 
will come much nearer to it than those whose 
laziness and despondency make them give it up 
as unattainable." 

62 



CHAPTER V 

SIMPLE LIVING 

" At length his lonely cot appears in view, 
Beneath the shelter of an aged tree ; 
The expectant wee-things, toddlin, stacher through 
To meet their Dad, wi' flichterin noise an' glee. 
His wee bit ingle, blinking bonnilie, 
His clean hearth-stane, his thrif tie wifie's smile, 
The lisping infant prattling on his knee, 
Does a' his weary carking cares beguile, 
An' makes him quite forget his labour an' his toil." 

— Burns. 

WHAT is simple living ? Justice to your- 
self, and as such a lesson most of us 
have yet to learn. Every home should be a 
refuge to those who have toiled all day in the 
busy world — a place where the " thrif tie wifie " 
does not weary herself too much to smile when 
she greets the workers on their return at night. 
A mother owes more to her husband and chil- 
dren than to her house, however perfect it may 
be in its appointments. 

First, attention should be given to the great 
sin of shutting out God's air and sunshine from 
the home. In the South it is considered almost 

63 



SELF BUILDING 

unpardonable to entertain a visitor in a room 
where the fresh air is not freely circulating ; con- 
sequently, shades are never drawn except in a 
house of mourning. If any woman hints that 
she is afraid of dust or of having carpets or cur- 
tains faded, even the negroes call her " po' white 
trash; gotten dem fine things to jes' make er 
sho', like real quality." No matter how much 
a frugal housewife might enjoy keeping the 
sunlight from her carpets, she is not courageous 
enough to brave public opinion by having the 
windows in her home closed, which would stamp 
her as close, saving, foolish, even to a sin. And 
it is a real and great crime to shut out the two 
things which nourish and feed the body as much 
as the food we eat. 

The sun is man's best friend. Sunlight sweet- 
ens and purifies our houses. How can human 
beings expect to be physically strong when they 
attempt to live in close, overheated houses ? I 
believe that health in New England would be 
almost perfect if the people would learn this les- 
son from the South. Many Northern people are 
dying from slow starvation, due to lack of air 
and sunshine in homes and business offices. 

One very hot summer day I went for a long 
ride on the electric cars. I seldom saw a win- 

64 



SIMPLE LIVING 

dow open, and never more than one in a house. 
I called at the house of a friend who lived near 
the ocean. As I entered, a young girl was sit- 
ting by an open window, which she hurriedly 
closed, and said, " I am so sorry I opened it ; 
had I known that you were coming with mother, 
I would not have let in the dust." I thought 
what a pity it was that she had not lived in 
a country where people, by public opinion, are 
obliged to allow the sun and air and even dust to 
enter both night and day. I was once asked, 
" If air and sunlight are so good, and you have 
such an abundance of both, how does it hap- 
pen that you have so much yellow fever ? " I 
answered in one word, " Filth." We have no 
adequate sewerage. Furthermore, the people of 
the South eat too much meat and the men drink 
too much whiskey. The drinkers succumb to the 
disease first; the meat eaters follow. Improper 
drainage, of course, impedes cure in all cases. 
The power of the sun is shown in the fact that 
it is possible for a person to come and go in an 
infected district without fear of taking the dis- 
ease if he enters it after the sun is well up in 
the sky, and leaves before it sets. 

Why is this true? Because mosquitoes and 
other vermin do not thrive in the light of day, 

65 



SELF BUILDING 

but swarm out at night burdened with conta- 
gion for their sleeping victims. Wire screens 
for doors and windows, insect powder and other 
things which prevent the entrance and growth 
of vermin in the house, crude petroleum thrown 
upon stagnant cisterns, mud-holes, and hog- 
wallows, will do much to prevent that which 
drainage fails to accomplish. 

Another asks, how about small-pox in Boston, 
Philadelphia, and New York ; can it be stamped 
out by other means than the much dreaded vac- 
cination ? Most assuredly ! I have lived in 
many cities, and I have never found a house 
perfectly free from water-bugs, mice, etc. It 
is now a proven fact that they carry contagion, 
if they are not the source from which it springs. 

Cleveland discovered this after she had tried 
vaccination in vain. 1 For several years half a 

1 The city of Cleveland has not had a case of small-pox in 
five months, although for the past two and a half years it has 
not been without from ten to one hundred cases. Immunity 
has been gained not through vaccination, but through disin- 
fection. Dr. Friedrich was made health officer last July and 
stopped the vaccination crusade. He said that vaccination had 
caused seven cases of lockjaw. He instituted a house-to-house 
disinfection. Sticks of formaldehyde were burned and unsani- 
tary conditions corrected in every way. Cleanliness and dis- 
infection are more effective against small -pox and all other 
contagious diseases than anything else known. — The Reasoner. 

m 



SIMPLE LIVING 

dozen or more cases of small-pox were reported 
each week ; but when it was proved that the bite 
of mosquitoes produced yellow fever, members 
of their city council began using their brains 
to some purpose, which resulted in a general 
house-cleaning of the city. Every citizen was 
forced to use the latest and best vermin de- 
stroyer. From palace to tenement, from tene- 
ment to hovel, the law was enforced. The 
city gave the preparations required where the 
inmates were too poor to purchase ; in the worst 
districts the city had the work done. The out- 
come was that for months they did not have 
a case of small-pox within their city. This 
motherly house-cleaning care should be prac- 
tised twice a year by all city fathers, for few 
houses are without some form of vermin, and 
vermin means death to the sleeping inmates 
of even a palace. Sulphur candles burned in 
closed rooms will often destroy vermin in the 
walls. 

The Hindoos value the power of fresh air, 
and have a room set apart in each house 
where the inmates concentrate, meditate, and 
practise deep breathing. Would that some of 
our closed sitting and sewing rooms could be 
turned into shrines of rest, quiet, and peace. 

67 



SELF BUILDING 

Prentice Mulford's " Marsh Queen " teaches a 
fine lesson on this subject. How can the 
masses be free with so much to pull them 
earthward, — bad, limey water; tight, heavy, 
dark clothes; vermin-filled houses in which 
are close, stifling rooms; appetites and desires 
which should be killed before man can become 
more than animal? 

The South could teach another lesson to the 
North, — simplicity in house furnishing. The 
wealthy Southern homes would seem very plain 
even to the poorest New England housewife. 
Furniture costs more there than North, but they 
have more windows, more sunlight, and less 
to fade. My work in the North has taken 
me into many hundreds of homes, and I have 
often thought, " How beautiful this would 
be if they would take half the furniture out 
of these rooms." At one house I found the 
hall and veranda packed with odd pieces of fur- 
niture. The lady explained that her son had 
married and gone to housekeeping, and she was 
seeing how much furniture she could spare him. 
Many times I have wished that others would 
follow her example. Find some poor couple 
and give away your burdens. 

Many times I select an attic room because I 
68 



SIMPLE LIVING 

find matting on the floor, and fewer things to 
fade. Also, it is farthest away from the sharp 
eyes and ready hands which pull my windows 
down the moment I leave the room. Many 
have told me that they did not wish to heat the 
entire city when I insisted upon sitting in my 
room with the window open. They forget that 
one case of la grippe or a fnneral would cost as 
much as the coal for an entire winter. 

Do not buy furniture which cannot be washed 
with a weak solution of carbolic acid and water. 
I do not like to sit upon chairs or sofas which 
are upholstered, for they are sure to contain 
some kind of poisonous matter which has been 
thrown off by the human body. Clean out your 
rubbish in attics and cellars, — old-fashioned 
beds, quilts, etc. Such articles may hold poison- 
ous germs, magnetism, and vibrations enough 
to kill a whole regiment of soldiers. Our outer 
garments, coming in contact with car seats, 
collect the decaying and diseased particles therein 
caught and held, and our health, and that of our 
friends, is menaced. Skirts touching the ground 
are always full of microbes, because people are 
allowed to expectorate upon sidewalks, street 
crossings, and floors of public buildings. The 
Boston street-car companies have secured the 

69 



SELF BUILDING 

passage of a law which makes expectorating 
upon the floors of their cars an offence punish- 
able by a fine of one hundred dollars or six 
months' imprisonment. The law works success- 
fully in the cars; why not ask the lawmakers 
to apply it to sidewalks and street crossings ? 
Violation of the law should be punishable as is 
any misdemeanor. Then we should not carry 
upon our shoes and clothing so many menaces to 
the general health of human beings. 

Again, let us not forget the mission of sun- 
light and air, but carefully and frequently 
expose all our clothing to these natural dis- 
infectants. If our clothes closets were made 
with windows, we should derive great benefit. 

The thousand unnecessary articles in our 
homes are only indications of foolish pride. 
Rugs and carpets require sweeping, dusting, and 
steam renovating to keep them in the condition 
of cleanliness where the breeding of disease will 
be impossible. Under no circumstances should 
rugs or carpets be in halls or living rooms. 
Were I to build a house, I would have both walls 
and floors made of a material upon which a hose 
could be turned, — tiling or glass would be 
perfect. A German bacteriologist has built a 
glass house in Japan into which the supply of 

70 



SIMPLE LIVING 

air is forced through pipes, and strained through 
cotton wool to cleanse it from bacteria. 

Why should a mother have paper — which is 
certainly an enemy to human life — on the walls 
of the nursery? A New Brunswick woman 
went as a bride to her new home. She did not 
like the paper in one of her bedrooms, and she 
decided to scrape the walls and put on new 
paper. Just as she finished the room she was 
taken with small- pox and died within a few 
days. It then transpired that a man had been 
ill with small-pox years before in that very room. 

It is often the case that steam-cleansing does 
not destroy the germs of disease. Those who do 
the work do not realize the importance, usually 
because they have not been taught. A friend 
lost a little son by diphtheria. All the beautiful 
rugs, stuffed furniture, and hangings were packed 
and stored, and the family went to Texas. 
More than a year later they decided to keep 
house, and sent for their things. They were no 
sooner settled than their children were again 
stricken with the dread disease, and another 
child passed over. The mother did not care to 
remain where she had suffered so much, and the 
things were again fumigated and packed. Two 
years later her husband bought a house in a 

71 



SELF BUILDING 

healthy Western town, and the rugs, furs, and 
carpets were opened for the third time. Again 
diphtheria made its appearance, and the throats 
of the children were so weakened that the par- 
ents had to take them away in search of health 
— all because of a vain love for useless trap- 
pings which harbored virulent germs. 

I met a lady in San Antonio who had brought 
her young brother to the South, hoping that a 
change of climate would restore him to health. 
This is her story. She lived in her father's 
house while her brother was at college. The 
father had tuberculosis, which proved fatal. 
Then the brother came home to live. Before he 
occupied the room used by his father it was re- 
furnished and the walls scraped, but in less than 
a year the young man's health began to fail. 
She consulted a specialist, who inquired, " Where 
does he sleep ? " — " In my father's old room," 
she answered, and then added that the room had 
been renovated. The doctor insisted that some 
infected article had been left in the room, and 
she remembered that the damask curtains had 
been sent to a cleaner, then used again, as they 
were very handsome. Those curtains had not 
been thoroughly disinfected, and the poison car- 
ried to her brother's lungs was the cause of 

72 



SIMPLE LIVING 

his premature death. Feather pillows are per- 
fect distributors of infection. For instance, I 
found a woman in the last stage of tuberculosis. 
She said : " None of my people ever had weak 
lungs, yet when my father-in-law died with con- 
sumption I had everything sent to us from his 
home washed and boiled. After hearing your 
talk I remembered that we used his feather pil- 
lows upon which he died; perhaps they brought 
it into my room, because my cough came the first 
winter I began sleeping upon those pillows." 

When women begin to model their house- 
keeping on simple, hospitable lines, we shall 
have fewer cases of sickness, especially of scarlet 
fever, diphtheria, and small-pox. When mothers 
study how to prevent the recurrence of a disease 
in the household, the doctor will have time to 
teach his patients how to keep well. Very often 
the remark is made, " I have so much to learn, 
and life is so short ! " We should learn from 
the Indians and Japanese, who live so close to 
nature. Most mothers spend hours making 
fancy dress for their children, but not one 
moment to the important consideration of what 
they can do or upon what they can feed their 
children in order to prevent colds, la grippe, 
and fevers. These troubles may be avoided by 

73 



SELF BUILDING 

simplifying the home life. Mothers thus gain 
poise through freedom from the slavery of house- 
work, for is not all unnecessary labor slavery ? 
Think not for a moment that home-making has 
a hint of drudgery in it ; there is no nobler 
occupation for women. But to be free from care 
and overwork means to gain strength of mind. 
When we make our homes places of rest, con- 
secrated to holy living, teaching, and thinking, 
they will become shrines from which to draw 
strength for body and soul. We need more time 
for the mountains, hills, and ocean, for blessed 
exercise under God's sky, and that time must be 
taken from the endless dish-washing, sweeping, 
and scrubbing. 

Yerily we are nothing of ourselves ; but if we 
follow God-given rules, we shall be lifted into 
such high vibrations that force will come to us 
from the unseen. Live upon the plane that was 
reached by Dante, Epictetus, and Swedenborg. 
It is in exile and poverty that most great souls 
unfold : Dante lost Beatrice, and fled from home 
and friends to save his life ; Epictetus, famed for 
his philosophy and the truths he taught of the 
Christian life, was a slave; and Socrates, that 
grand old Greek, went to a felon's death, rejoic- 
ing in the belief of the immortality of the soul. 

74 



SIMPLE LIVING 

Buddha was the only prince who attained the 
plane where wisdom brought soul-unfoldment, 
and he attained it by leaving his beautiful and 
beloved princess, his children, wealth, and coun- 
try, going out alone as beggar and outcast, that 
he might return with the light which was to 
radiate through India and the world. Self- 
denial always lights the way for those who 
grope and fall in the shadow of their own 
ignorance. 

It may be argued that I preach the doctrine 
of fear ; but few persons can delude themselves 
into a belief that they are above all consid- 
erations of germs and atmospheric conditions. 
When exposed to danger, if our thought is posi- 
tive, we are immune ; but we are not all on that 
high plane of perfect realization of Oneness 
with the Infinite, and, therefore, are not pro- 
tected from ignorance, disease, old age, and that 
form of self-love which brings fear and often 
manifests itself in some form of physical ailment. 
Until we reach that plane, we need to have 
presented to our mental view youth, strength, 
harmony, and love. Affirming Oneness with 
the Infinite counts only as idle words unless the 
life corresponds. Living counts more than idle 
affirmations, or we shall make the very angels 

75 



SELF BUILDING 

weep for shame, for they will know us as we 
are. We must mount, step by step, to the 
mountain tops if we would reach vibrations 
where a Christ-like physical being can exist. 
Eat ideal food, think the ideal thought, do the 
ideal deed, live the ideal life, then your example 
will send out helpful vibrations, and will teach 
the lesson of the higher life even to those who 
believe themselves your superiors. 

I was asked to visit a wealthy family to teach 
two relatives of the hostess, invalid women. 
One of these women was a rich widow. I sug- 
gested that she would feel better if she were to 
go out and help some human being. She had 
given her bones, nerves, and muscles no work 
to do, and consequently shook like a leaf. She 
answered my suggestion by saying, " I do help 
my sister's daughter." — " You are only helping 
yourself when you help your own family/' I 
replied. " All women are your sisters, but she 
is most your relative who is weak, and in 
need of money, kindness, or love." She an- 
swered, " I have built a church on my own land, 
and given it to the neighborhood." Still the 
temple in her own heart was empty, for her gifts 
were not made in the spirit of love. An act of 
apparent generosity may sometimes be an indi- 

76 



SIMPLE LIVING 

cation of pride. In this home of wealth there 
was pitiable poverty of soul. 

Few of us know how to give ; few of us know 
how to apply the lesson Christ taught to the 
rich man who had to bestow all his goods upon 
the poor before he could receive eternal life. 
Much seeming evil reigns upon earth to-day, 
largely in the form of avarice, which touches 
even those who have unfolded mentally suffi- 
ciently to heal disease by the law of suggestion. 

Fear no evil, and work much good. 



77 



CHAPTER VI 

BATHING 
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. — Psalm li. 7. 

IF " cleanliness is next to godliness,' ' the daily 
bath for the entire body is one of the high- 
est forms of prayer. Those teachers who, from 
time to time, have come to earth with a spirit- 
ual message have paid much attention to this 
important subject. When we read the Koran 
we are surprised to see how strenuously Moham- 
med taught the necessity of frequent bathing. I 
was amazed when I read his simple yet profound 
teachings upon the laws which were to govern 
the daily life of his disciples. 

All hygienic teachings insist upon the vital 
importance of frequent internal and external 
ablutions. The skin has over two million perspi- 
ration glands which regulate the internal tem- 
perature, and communicate with the surface of 
the body by ducts which have a total length of 
two and one-half miles. We must keep these 
sewers clean if we would be in health and good 

78 



BATHING 

to look upon. Some go farther, and say that 
bathing is a factor in purifying the thoughts. 

I knew a lady who was a great sufferer from 
internal trouble. A surgeon told her that she 
had a tumor ; his charges for its removal were 
to be six hundred dollars. She returned to her 
home to get together the money when I met her 
and persuaded her to go to the hospital of the 
King's Daughters in Louisville, Kentucky. The 
specialist for diseases of the abdominal region 
told her that nothing was the matter excepting 
that a collection of old decaying soil had clogged 
the organs which should have been kept clear by 
exercise and internal flushing. For fear of burst- 
ing the cysts, she had taken almost no exercise, 
at the same time eating whatever she fancied, 
without realizing that exercise must be practised 
to carry off the waste, or that the drinking of 
pure water in large quantities was necessary to 
inward cleanliness. Through ignorance, she had 
lived in dread for many years until a few days 
of treatment at the hospital restored her to a 
normal condition. One reason why poor people 
are generally in better health than the wealthy 
and idle is that their exercise carries off what 
they do not use. The vaginal douche is said to 
carry off matter which would otherwise be taken 

79 



SELF BUILDING 

up and used as brain force ; and as much of the 
life force is generated in that part of the body, 
and should be retained, the daily bath is all the 
cleansing required for health; but that should 
not be omitted. 

It is a noticeable fact that many children pass 
out when their mothers cease to nurse and bathe 
them. A reading woman, and a member of a 
Club, said to a neighbor, " Have you dared to 
bathe your little son this spring ? " The neigh- 
bor showed a lack of comprehension, and the 
woman explained that she had not ventured to 
bathe either of her two little girls since the be- 
ginning of cold weather in the fall. Literature 
on the subject of health had evidently been 
omitted in her extensive reading. 

Almost all patients who come to the hospitals 
for treatment of skin diseases and eye troubles 
are people who rarely bathe. I once persuaded 
an old mountaineer to try a bath and change of 
clothing each week. His speedy recovery seemed 
miraculous. I knew the secret; it was clean 
clothing and plenty of water. 

Kain and snow are full of glame, or vitalized 
oxygen. The most beautiful woman I have 
ever known is accustomed when it rains to 
stand under the falling drops clad in a thin, 

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BATHING 

loose wrapper that all her body may be thoroughly 
wet. She ascribes her wonderfully preserved 
youth to the practice of physical culture, deep 
breathing, and her daily bath. 

Man is a gregarious animal. Being much 
with his kind he takes on his neighbor's physical 
and mental conditions, and the bath is a great 
help as a protection against the unseen forces 
which tend to deplete his strength. We cannot 
see thought, neither do we understand the law 
governing the thought realm; but we know 
thought exists, and we know some of the con- 
ditions governing that realm. For instance, 
when I sit by a person I feel the moral nature 
of the soul and the physical nature of the body. 
Through sympathetic vibration I seem to feel at 
once the pain or pleasure of the person. All are 
sensitive, but most of us have not lived in the 
right way to gain conscious control of the power 
to throw off the influences of other minds upon 
our own. 

One feels better after the washing away of old 
conditions. Many specialists believe that a daily 
bath and exercise in the fresh air will help to 
keep weak persons from moral intemperance. 
Lawmakers should be urged to remember this, 
and provide easy bathing facilities for all classes. 

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SELF BUILDING- 

In the home too much cannot be done to secure 
fine bathing facilities for growing children, and 
also for servants. Both are placed under the 
care of the mother, and she should prove worthy 
of the trust. 

Every country has its inspired writers and 
teachers, since God leaves none of his children 
in spiritual darkness. Just as soon as the 
people or nation begins to unfold, the teacher 
comes to bear the message which is as complete 
as its hearers are able to comprehend. Since the 
days of Naaman, dipping has been ordered as a 
means of curing leprosy ; now it is believed that 
moral lepers can be healed by the daily bath, 
combined with long walks in the sunshine and 
fresh air. It is stated that men who drink until 
two o'clock in the morning often take a Turkish 
bath, and are thus enabled to appear at their 
offices at the usual morning hour, refreshed and 
sober enough to resume work. Those who 
desire to give up tobacco or abandon flesh 
eating would do well to begin with a Turkish 
bath, and continue the baths weekly for several 
months. 

If people would indulge in two Turkish baths 
a year, they would live longer and look younger. 
These baths cost but a dollar, and are worth 

$2 



BATHING 

vastly more than twenty operas or plays. The 
first time I took one, I asked the Swedish 
attendant, " Why are you not using soap ? " 
She was scrubbing my body with hot water and 
fibre from the bark of the cocoa tree. Her reply 
was, " If I used soap when I began, you would 
not have a Turkish bath; for the old matter, 
which, as you see, comes off in flakes, would only 
stick tighter if soap were used." Soap was used 
freely after these flakes were moved. The same 
rule applies in the washing of clothes and all 
ordinary bathing. 

A wealthy woman told me that she had to 
take a journey to Europe to learn how to bathe. 
The chaperon of the party insisted on having all 
take a bath morning and evening. They travelled 
many months, constantly walking as they visited 
the numberless places of interest. The entire 
party kept in health — the bath at night re- 
freshing them, the morning bath bracing them 
for the new day. Since her return home 
she had kept this practice up with the best 
results. 

A bath can be effectual or not according to the 
method used. The main thing is to have the first 
water warm, to scrub the body with a flesh brush 
or bark, then to apply soap. I use tepid water, 

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SELF BUILDING 

rubbing briskly all parts of the body to remove 
the dead cuticle and oily deposits, then letting 
the water cool gradually; I take no cold, and 
avoid shock. Three times a week I use soap, 
and have the water warmer. On leaving the 
bath, rub with a soft towel, and then, after 
allowing the air to strike your entire body for 
a few moments, rub briskly with a Turkish 
towel, thinking all the while, " I wash my body 
that my soul may be clean also, for ' cleanliness 
is next to godliness.' " 

An American clergyman in Japan one day 
passed a tub in which was seated a Japanese 
repeating again and again while throwing water 
over his body, "Me wash me heart clean, me 
wash me heart clean." Some unhesitatingly 
declare such an act a wicked heathen custom ; 
but I am sure that if that man was in earnest, 
his heart could have been made clean. I wish 
those who consider themselves above material 
teachings would, like this modern Diogenes, 
take to the tub for about one month. 

The part the hair plays as an electric con- 
ductor is not fully appreciated. I asked the 
head nurse in a hospital what I should do to 
retain the color of my hair. She directed me 
to wash it once a week, explaining that my brain 

84 



BATHING 

would act more quickly, and grow stronger, be- 
cause each hair carries magnetic force to the 
brain from the atmosphere. In these days the 
custom is obtaining of allowing the hair to grow 
longer. Mothers should not allow their boys to 
wear their hair less than three inches long. 
Young lawyers and athletes are often ridiculed 
on account of the length of their hair, but they 
have taken the hint from the story of Samson. 
The Hindoo sages always wear their hair three 
inches long in order not to deplete the brain 
force. 

It is to be sincerely hoped that thinking people 
will awake to their responsibility in the matter 
of personal cleanliness, and, alert to its impor- 
tance, will not allow such a vital need to be 
classed as a fad. 

The medical profession is more fully appreciat- 
ing the bath in the treatment of disease. My 
adherence to the custom of a daily bath had 
made it a necessary part of my existence when 
I was attacked with measles in the most malig- 
nant form. The doctor feared that the case 
would develop into pneumonia, and remonstrated 
with me when I insisted on my daily ablutions. 
However, he advised that the water bath be 
followed by the alcohol bath, and so refreshing 

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SELF BUILDING 

did it prove, that not only once, but thrice a 
day did the nurse sponge my body, thereby 
reducing my fever. My recovery was rapid 
and satisfactory in every way. When another 
member of the family fell a victim to the disease, 
the same treatment was used with like gratifying 
results. We drank quantities of lemon juice 
mixed with crushed ice. 

Medicated baths are now common, and cabinets 
are made that are within the reach of nearly 
every purse. With these, a substitute for the 
Turkish bath can be taken, or medications can 
be used. It is a marvel that so much waste 
matter, as the vapor-bath causes the body to 
throw off, can be so near the surface and yet 
invisible. 

In Hardin County, southern Texas, is a won- 
derful resort for invalids, called Sour Lake. The 
Indians learned its value in healing disease be- 
fore the white man came, and now a large hotel 
accommodates hundreds of invalids. Besides 
springs where the water, efficacious in certain 
diseases, is served to the sufferers, there are baths 
where the most virulent skin diseases are healed. 
Sometimes the sulphurous soil is spread upon the 
bodies of the invalids, and they are directed to 
lie in the sun in the roofless bathhouses until 

86 



BATHING 

the dried mud falls off. Serious cases are cured 
in a few weeks. A leper went there years ago, 
but he was not allowed to remain. He crossed 
to the other side of the lake, and there dug a 
hole in the ground in which he lay for some 
weeks, leaving it just long enough to eat. He 
was fully cured. 

A sun bath has almost as great an effect upon 
the system as one in which water is used. Its 
advantages after a water bath cannot be over- 
estimated. It will prolong life, and give power 
of which we can hardly dream. In the treat- 
ment of consumption it is a most wonderful and 
important factor. A teacher of psychology living 
in a tent at a summer school was joined by his 
cousin, a country boy. This young man slept on 
a blanket spread upon the ground, with his tent 
open at both ends, bathed in the salt water once 
a day, lying stretched out in the sun on the sand 
for two hours after his bath, ate but once a day, 
and then partook of the lightest cereals, with 
milk and fruit. Within two weeks he had 
gained so much intuition that he could say 
whether or not the fishermen had left Ports- 
mouth or give the time of day without con- 
sulting his watch. Such are the rewards of 
living close to nature, and concentrating your 

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SELF BUILDING 

thoughts upon the good and beautiful which are 
in the universe. 

While doing our utmost to cleanse our bodies, 
think of the grand results where " cleanliness is 
next to godliness." 



88 



CHAPTER VII 

ENVIRONMENT 

THAT the conditions under which we are 
placed, or, in other words, our environments, 
have a potent influence in the formation of the 
individual character will be admitted by every 
one who has given any serious thought to the 
subject. It needs no labored argument to sus- 
tain the claim, for it is so obviously a truism 
that, to use a common expression, it " goes with- 
out saying." But mere assent to the truth is 
not always sufficient ; we need a realizing sense 
of the importance of any fact in order to make 
it a helping factor in the ordering of our lives. 
It is my purpose in this chapter to give " precept 
upon precept, line upon line," of living examples, 
and thus drive home to your active perceptions 
the fact that we are to a great extent the makers 
of our own environment. 

Mrs. B , of Atlanta, Georgia, attended the 

Passion Play at Oberammergau, and after the 
performance joined the thousands who were 

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SELF BUILDING 

making their way up the mountain side to see 
the great wooden cross. The friend with her 
was not strong enough to make the journey, and 
they were obliged to return to the valley. While 

resting upon the hillside, Mrs. B secured a 

few stones as souvenirs. Years after, she col- 
lected some of the curiosities which she had 
gathered on her travels, intending to send them 
to the college where her son had been graduated. 
While using the microscope she detected a 
peculiarity in one of these stones; further ex- 
amination revealed the fact that upon one side 
was a perfect head of Christ in lines so delicate 
that it would seem impossible for any instru- 
ment to have chiselled them — even the drops 
of blood were visible in dark red. Upon turn- 
ing the stone another way the head of a lion 
was seen ; her fancy made it the " Lion of the 
tribe of Judah." This stone has been shown to 
kings, queens, and emperors. While travelling 
in England a coachman accosted its owner with 
the remark : " I have heard much about your 
stone. Would you be willing to show to me 
the head of Christ, who loved the poor and 
lowly?" She at once took him to view the 
stone. Thousands of people make the pilgrim- 
age to Oberammergau every ten years, and 

90 



ENVIRONMENT 

reverently witness the production of the "Pas- 
sion " by the humble peasants of that little Bava- 
rian province. The thoughts of both players 
and audience are concentrated upon the Christ 
life, and this stone very wonderfully expresses 
the fact. 

A friend who had a sickly, fretful baby went 
for a few weeks' rest to a resort upon the shore 
of a lake. The mountains were in the distance, 
and when her child had been particularly trying 
she would steal away for a few moments, and 
fix her eyes upon the highest peaks, thinking, 
" I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from 
whence cometh my help." And strength came 
with the thought. 

The effects of environment are very noticeable 
at places where there are strong, helpful teachers. 
Higher lessons can be revealed to sensitives, even 
though they may not leave their tents or hear 
a word spoken, provided they are living in har- 
mony with the laws of their being. Telepathy 
brings the messages they would hear. Sensitives 
who wish to absorb what is being taught at 
Harvard or Yale should live either at Cam- 
bridge or New Haven. 

I once saw a strong man fall upon Broadway, 
New York. Afterwards, when passing the corner, 

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SELF BUILDING 

I always remembered him, and sent helpful 
thoughts his way. No matter who was with 
me or how hurried I was, the environment had 
been created, and I tried to do my duty. 

Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes understood the 
effect of environment, and playfully related in 
the " Autocrat " how the mind works in circles. 
He was asked to dine at a certain house after 
a lecture. The hostess said, "Dr. Holmes, you 
must grow very weary of travelling and lectur- 
ing constantly." He answered, "Madam, I am 
like the Huma, — I never rest." Thirteen years 
later he went again to that town, sat again at 
the table with the same hostess, and heard from 
her lips again the same question. He replied in 
the same words he had used before. Instantly he 
recalled their last meeting, and thought that this 
lady must believe that he made that same com- 
parison at every house where he was entertained, 
when in reality he had used it but twice in his 
life, and both times in her presence. 

Music often creates mental environments. 
For example, while I was reading a description 
of a tragic scene in a coal mine, two people 
were playing a most beautiful arrangement of 
an opera. The explosion, the anguish at the en- 
trance of the mine, the sufferings under ground, 

92 



ENVIRONMENT 

were thrillingly depicted by the writer, whose 
name I have forgotten as well as the name of the 
book ; yet let me hear one chord of the air which 
was played years ago as I read, and the picture 
again unfolds. I am again at the mine suffer- 
ing with the wives of the entombed men. We 
should understand these unseen laws, and create 
an environment which will in the next circle of 
the brain bring harmonious mental pictures. 

Almost every town or village has its haunted 
house. In a suburb of Boston a beautiful 
house is said to bring misfortune to any one 
who moves into it ; all are forced to leave 
the place very soon. The house is always in 
perfect order, and its surroundings charming; 
but although the rent is very low, it stands idle 
most of the year. Strangers often go there to 
live, but some calamity soon forces them to 
leave. 

Another such house is to be found in the 
adjoining town. This is a mansion set upon a 
high hill, with a tower overlooking the surround- 
ing towns and the ocean. The owner took his life 
by hanging himself there. No one has been 
able to live in the house for any length of time. 
The children in the neighborhood tell the story 
with bated breath, some placing the tragedy in 

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SELF BUILDING 

the cellar, some in the stable, while the older 
ones declare that it occurred in the tower. 

In an aristocratic neighborhood in Dallas, 
Texas, there is a house which seems marked 
with evil. If a happy, prosperous merchant 
moves in, at once his business success wanes, 
and he is forced to sell. Another family takes 
possession, — death comes within a month and 
snatches away the father and husband. And 
so the story is repeated again and again. A 
friend of mine, ignorant of its past history, took 
his family to live in it, and within two weeks a 
beautiful child was taken away. 

I was shown over a lovely home in an- 
other suburb of Boston. Both house and sur- 
roundings seemed ideal, yet my hostess said her 
husband would be forced to sell it. They had 
been unhappy since entering, and although they 
had lived there but three months, they were 
willing to dispose of it at a loss. When the 
owner came home he explained that the con- 
tractor who built the house found that he should 
lose money on his contract, and did most of the 
work himself. His wife worried over the matter 
until she became insane, and while her husband 
worked he was filled with fear lest while he was 
away she should do some rash deed. Thus the 

94 



ENVIRONMENT 

vibrations of fear and anxiety went out with each 
nail driven, and they now affect any sensitive 
person who lives there. Does this not point a 
moral ? Pay well for all work done, whether it 
be done by dressmaker, washerwoman, carpenter, 
or preacher, in order that no poisonous magnetism 
be left behind when their work is finished. 

Another contractor agreed to build a house 
for less than the cost of the materials, and to 
save himself from embarrassment cheated the 
lumbermen out of several hundred dollars. The 
first man who occupied the house lost his posi- 
tion after moving in, and all the other occu- 
pants were unfortunate in some way. Now the 
house stands tenantless, no one having ventured 
to occupy it for several years. It is still working 
out the deadly law of environment which that 
contractor created when, to save himself from fi- 
nancial loss, he deliberately cheated his neighbor. 

While the yellow fever was raging in Colum- 
bus a lady occupied an old country house which 
was believed to be haunted. She often described 
the supernatural visitations of a drunkard who 
smacked his lips when she prepared egg-nog for 
the fever patients, and such an impression was 
made upon her mind by frequent repetition of 
the story that she finally began to entertain men 

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SELF BUILDING 

who drank, thus creating for herself such an 
environment that she was herself a " haunted 
house." Her husband obtained a divorce from 
her, and she went out into the world a slave to 
the animal passions which dominated the drunk- 
ard about whom she talked so much. 

I am very sensitive to physical environment, 
and in passing a house I can feel the influences 
which the occupants send out. I spent three 
months in the home of a dressmaker, and while 
there I wanted to sew all day, although I had 
previously detested to use a needle. Again, I 
lived in the home of a woman who was practi- 
cally a spendthrift, and I sought bargains until 
I actually bought sheets for a bed which I hoped 
to possess ! At another time I took a room 
where a materializing medium had lived, and I 
became clairvoyant, seeing luminous golden balls 
and rainbow colors. Now I have learned to 
secure, if possible, a room where young, happy 
people have lived. And as I grow more positive 
I steel myself against all evil influences. 

One of my pupils told me that she once took 
a room in a house which was sweet, clean, and 
pleasant, but such unrest possessed her from 
the first night's stay that she was unable to con- 
centrate or think of anything but the evil which 

96 



ENVIRONMENT 

might befall the members of her family. At 
last a lady called, and in the course of conver- 
sation told her that her room was the one 
in which a former occupant had indulged in 
drunken sprees, almost breaking his wife's heart 
and frightening her with his violence. 

One of our great writers went to live in New 
York. He spent several months hoping inspi- 
ration would come, but he could write nothing 
worth reading, and finally returned to his home 
in the Maine forests. In the old environment 
his ability to work returned at once. 

A friend bought a house built by an artist. 
She is constantly entertaining artists, and much 
of the conversation is upon pictures and painters. 
On my last visit to that home the little daughter 
of the house presented me with a picture which 
she herself had painted, saying she wished me to 
have it as a reminder of my pleasant visit. The 
environment created by the artist who built that 
house has affected every member of the family 
for good. 

Hudson, in his " Laws of Psychic Phenomena/ ' 
mentions a woman who, on taking up her abode 
in a certain house, felt an irresistible desire to 
paint, which grew so strong that she engaged 
teachers, and began the study of art. To-day 

9" 



SELF BUILDING 

she is a well-known artist. Later she learned 
that the man who had formerly lived in her 
home had struggled a lifetime trying to paint, 
but had accomplished nothing worthy. She, 
taking on the conditions which his enthusiasm 
had left behind, achieved success. When she 
went to another home much of her enthusiasm 
vanished, and she was unable to explain her 
settled melancholy. Upon making inquiries she 
learned that the former occupant of her present 
home was most unhappy, suffering the shame 
of a drunken and unfaithful husband. When 
another removal took her into a better environ- 
ment, her love for art returned, and she was 
again happy and successful. 

Near the beautiful Middlesex Fells a family 
lived who were obliged to leave their old home 
on account of financial embarrassment. Next 
to their home was the house of a lady who had 
recently lost her husband. A little farther on 
were whole blocks nearly empty of tenants. 
Finding such a condition in one locality, I be- 
gan to make inquiries. It transpired that the 
builders erected these showy houses to coin 
money, and had sacrificed substantiality to mere 
external beauty. On the other side of the town 
were more houses built under like conditions, 

98 



ENVIRONMENT 

which were also empty. I worked hard trying 
to teach and lift those tenants to a higher plane 
where they would not be affected by the envi- 
ronment of fraud thrown around them by the 
unscrupulous contractors. One woman told me 
that her husband's business had been ruined, 
and that he had gone West in search of employ- 
ment ; another said that her husband's business 
failure was imminent. Their neighbors were in 
similar circumstances : all were unhappy and 
anxious to get away from such conditions. 
People who know how these unseen laws oper- 
ate can energize themselves against inharmoni- 
ous vibrations. 

There is a beautiful hotel in a Southern town 
where four gentlemen have committed suicide. 
They had all formed the habit of drinking to 
excess, and the last one was the victim of the 
morphine habit. He married a lovely woman 
and engaged board at this hotel. Three months 
later he sent his wife down to dinner, saying 
that he would follow. As he did not come she 
went to find him, to discover that the force of 
environment had made her husband's rash act 
easier to perform. 

When I hear so many stories of the effects of 
bad environment in dwelling houses, in weakness 

99 



;Lo*C. 



SELF BUILDING 

I say, " Give me a clean, new tent with a cot 
and camp-stool, for summer at least." I would 
rather brave the New England autumn in such 
a home than to enter winter quarters before I 
had learned the circumstances under which the 
house was built, and the daily life under its 
roof. But knowing the laws of environment, 
in strength I say, " I can make myself positive 
to any unseen influence." The safer plan would 
be to refuse to occupy a house built at great 
loss to carpenter, contractor, or lumberman, or 
one where inharmony and discontent have been 
the lot of any former occupant. I prefer a 
humble, new house to a mansion which has stood 
a generation. If we are positive and full of 
faith, and have power to resist evil influences, 
we are, of course, not subject to anything from 
without. 

" Quo Vadis " and " Old St. Paul's " have 
taught me much concerning this subject. It is 
said that Nero fiddled while Rome burned. I 
was taught to believe him either brutally wicked 
or insane. Whether he was either or whether a 
thinker in advance of his time, may be a ques- 
tion. If he understood the law of environment, 
his joy at seeing his capital burn might well 
have been great, for it was one way to lift the 

100 



ENVIRONMENT 

Roman masses out of their pernicious surround- 
ings. With their household gods in ashes they 
were forced to leave their wicked haunts and flee 
to the country, where with trees and sky for 
shelter and the earth for beds a better side of 
their natures developed, and moral and physical 
health was the result of the change. When they 
returned to the city, they had no invisible condi- 
tions to overcome. Then it was that the Chris- 
tian religion took such deep root, and Rome was 
made the seat of the church. 

Again, would London have reached the dis- 
tinction of being the greatest city in the world 
but for its great fire while the plague raged ? 
Nothing but fire could have stayed its death 
march. Peace, health, and harmony came to 
those stricken people, and the new London rose 
from the ashes with possibilities not hers before. 

Our own great fire in Chicago was remembered 
as a calamity; but who now dares affirm that 
it really was? The burning of the old conditions 
made possible the advancement for which the 
city is celebrated to-day. When she was dow- 
ered with beauty for ashes, it opened the way for 
progressive thought, and her vibrations reached 
New England's army of advanced thinkers. 

A sensitive person who is forced to live in 
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SELF BUILDING 

many different places during a year can properly 
estimate the value of a fire. Our physical bodies 
are constantly throwing off waste matter ; even 
so our minds radiate forces for good or evil which 
are more powerful in their effects than the germ 
of tuberculosis or tetanus. We can wash or 
breathe away many physical conditions ; for 
some conditions fire is the only purifier. 

It is our duty to be charitable, just, and hon- 
est ; therefore reasoning man should seek to 
leave no poisonous environment for others to 
overcome. Live so that those who follow will 
be helped and strengthened as they pass through 
this world. The attending physician at the 
hospital of the King's Daughters in Louisville 
had a little slip of paper on which his creed was 
printed, — " do it now." Whatever good we 
can do, whatever kindness we can show, to a 
single human being, let us do it now, not neglect 
or defer it, but do it now, for we " shall not pass 
this way again." 

Passing down an Eastern street I noticed a 
pine growing out of a great stone or boulder. 
No opening was visible, yet there, high upon the 
hillside, stood the brave, scraggy tree. Near by 
stood another pine, perfect and beautiful. It 
did not seem that the two could be members of 

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ENVIRONMENT 

the same family, but environment had had its 
effect upon both. All the force of the first tree 
went to its roots, which had to be sent beyond 
the stone in search of nourishment. In the 
effort to conquer environment it had gained 
great force, although spent and hidden in the 
ground. The other received nourishment with- 
out unusual effort in the roots, and was able to 
send out larger limbs and richer foliage which 
pleased the eye of every beholder. How often 
we misjudge our friends through ignorance of 
their environment. Instead of criticism, often 
harsh and unjust, let us help them to roll the 
stone away, that light and harmony may enter 
their lives. 

Let those who live in the city go alone for a 
few months each year to the country in order 
that their view of the natural world may be 
broadened. For the same reason, those who 
live on farms would profit by a brief visit to 
the ocean. The mental view of a street-car con- 
ductor broadens from hourly seeing hills, rivers, 
trees, or ocean. Don't blame a merchant for 
being what a planter would call "little." It 
is hard for shut-ins to grow kindly and broad. 
Those who live on cliffs and between mountains, 
where the daily view is upon rocks, are often 

103 



SELF BUILDING 

hard to reach, and sometimes even cruelly rud^ 
to strangers ; climb to the mountain top, and 
the nature of the people living there is as broad 
and open as the expanse upon which their eyes 
rest. The nature of the lofty height has reached 
them. We see this principle illustrated by the 
great teachers of India who have lived for years 
upon the summits of the Himalayas. Ocean 
breadth of view seems to have a similar effect. 
Finally, when we ourselves have lifted our 
eyes unto the hills, and gained strength and 
spiritual power by which to help our weaker 
brothers, what will be the results ? In ever 
widening circles the influence will reach out 
until those in high places are inspired to better 
things. The people, imbued with clean thoughts 
and with temptation to grossness removed, will 
attain a more perfect spiritual development, and 
that new day will dawn in which each man shall 
be his own master in the truest, highest sense. 
Sensuality, drunkenness, crime, will be words of 
history, and even that history which treats of 
bloodshed and villany will be eliminated so far 
as possible that we may reach out into the future 
for good rather than gaze back into the centuries 
where immaturity of thought led to mistakes 
better forgotten. 

104 



ENVIRONMENT 

Professor Drummond says : " These silent and 
patient processes, elaborating, eliminating, de- 
veloping all from the first of time, conducting 
the evolution from millennium to millennium with 
unaltering purpose and unfaltering power, are 
the early stages of the redemptive work, — the 
unseen approach of that kingdom whose strange 
mark is that it 'cometh without observation.' 
And these kingdoms rising tier upon tier in ever 
increasing sublimity and beauty, their foundations 
visibly fixed in the past, their progress and the 
direction of their progress being facts in nature 
still, are the signs which, since the Magi saw 
His star in the east, have never been wanting 
from the firmament of truth, and which in every 
age with growing clearness to the wise, and with 
ever gathering mystery to the uninitiated, pro- 
claim that ' the kingdom of God is at hand.' ' 

The kingdom of God dwells within that 
human consciousness which is positive against 
all forms of fear thought, and beauty for ashes 
must follow this mental attitude. 



105 



CHAPTER VIII 

CORRESPONDENCE 

IT is becoming an accepted fact with advanced 
thinkers that there is a universal law of 
correspondence between the natural world and 
the spiritual ; that unseen evil is manifest in 
things hurtful and repulsive, and unseen good 
in things useful and beautiful, and that all 
things in earth, sky, sea, and air are but the 
representatives of unseen things in the mind 
of man. How essential, then, is the good, and 
how important that every energy should be 
bent towards its manifestation. 

When we criticise the actions or speech of an- 
other, we put ourselves in touch with the lower 
order of earthly thought vibrations. Then active 
harm is done, for the veil is pulled closer and 
closer over our faces, thus shutting out, for the 
time, spiritual perception. 

We shall especially consider in this chapter 
the effect of unwholesome thought upon the 
physical body, and the treatment of diseased 

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CORRESPONDENCE 

conditions by removing their mental and spirit- 
ual causes. To those who always assign a physi- 
cal cause to a physical effect, we echo Hamlet's 
words, " There are more things in heaven and 
earth, Horatio, that are dreamt of in your 
philosophy.' ' Truth understood is all that is 
needed to set man free. 

Let us consider the effects of a man's thought 
upon the physical body. Heart troubles are 
often caused by thoughts of resentment and 
anger against those from whom we believe we 
have received an injury. Ossification follows 
when one cherishes bitter thoughts for a long 
period of time. A woman with three grown-up 
daughters received into her family the beautiful 
niece of her husband. The girl was much ad- 
mired, both for her beauty and charm of man- 
ner, and received more attention than her 
cousins. Trouble began at once. Her life 
became martyrdom, and she was often made 
ill by the slurs cast upon her by her relatives, 
who begrudged comforts to the dependent niece 
because on account of them they were forced 
to go without some piece of finery. The aunt 
allowed the seeds of anger and resentment to 
take such deep root that she succumbed to a 
severe heart trouble, from which she suffered 

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SELF BUILDING 

for four years. Finally her niece left, and the 
heart trouble disappeared, to return ten years 
later when her daughter-in-law went to live 
with her. The oldest daughter still remained 
under the parental roof. She was an ill-natured 
spinster. Her mother's jealousy and hatred were 
now directed against her daughter-in-law, because, 
forsooth, that unsuspecting young person gained 
many friends. This second recurrence of the 
heart trouble is said to have caused the old 
lady's death. 

Shut your spiritual ears to the great truths 
of life, and physical deafness may follow ; wrap 
yourself up in thoughts of self, permitting your- 
self to see only your side of a disputed question, 
and physical blindness may ensue. By non-use 
the ear-drum ceases to vibrate, and through in- 
activity the optic nerve becomes sluggish and 
unreceptive. Very plain women are often suf- 
ferers because they have heard no pleasant com- 
pliments concerning themselves. We love to 
hear what pleases and natters, but how our faces 
change when friends tell us our faults. 

Throat trouble is often caused by jealousy ; I 
have known several such cases. Colds are caused 
by imprudence in eating or intolerance. Corns 
and bunions correspond to hard thoughts of an- 

108 



CORRESPONDENCE 

other. Lameness is sometimes brought on by 
fear of failure in business. Paralysis is caused 
by over-indulgence of the animal appetites ; it is 
especially induced by the sin of gluttony. How 
many victims are claimed by this deadly enemy 
to human life ! Those who eat for nutriment, 
and not for sense-gratification, rarely fall a prey 
to this disease. It is to me as great a crime to 
die of paralysis so caused as to die of delirium 
tremens. Both maladies are the results of 
intemperance. 

A mental science teacher told me of a patient 
suffering from paralysis who had been nursing 
a private grudge against a man who had been 
dead twenty years. The patient's family were 
anxious that he should try mental healing, and 
as soon as the teacher began her inquiries, she 
recognized that it was anger that had bound him 
for so many years. Immediately she attempted 
to divert his thoughts from hate to love and 
good-will, and after the first treatment she was 
told by the relatives that a change was per- 
ceptible — that he was using his limbs more 
freely than before. It was plain, however, that 
he must work out his own salvation, as he could 
not hope to be forgiven unless he was willing to 
forgive. Would that some of those who inhabit 

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SELF BUILDING 

our planet might become so transformed and 
renewed in their minds that they would be will- 
ing to do by others as they would that others 
should do by them. 

Pride of family or of money causes swelling 
of the legs and tumors. Shaking palsy is often 
caused by greed so strong that the vibrations 
touch the body with a shock. Passion and 
anger often cause biliousness. Anger is the 
" snake in the grass/' and the green poison, in- 
troduced into the system, kills quickly. Hurry 
projects the psychic body ahead of the physical, 
causing weakness. We are then open to in- 
fluences which retard the perfect action of the 
organs of the body. Cancers are often caused by 
miserliness. 

A New York teacher told his class that worry 
about business and fear of failure brought people 
into the vibrations of falling. Once when treat- 
ing a wealthy merchant he found three people 
in one house, all using crutches. The husband 
had injured his leg in a fall, and the wife and 
daughter were in a similar plight. On inquiring 
about the mental condition of his patients, he 
found that they were very anxious concerning 
their financial position — the merchant having 
been in fear of failure for six weeks. The doctor 

110 



CORRESPONDENCE 

took on the condition of his patients, and on 
leaving the house fell, injuring his arm. After 
hearing his story, a pupil said that after she left 
the lecture room she fell twice on the icy side- 
walk before she could pull herself out of such 
vibrations. 

How great, then, is our responsibility! Our 
attitude towards every condition determines its 
effect upon our physical body. Nothing can hurt 
our real selves, and nothing can hurt our con- 
scious selves but our attitude towards our envi- 
roning conditions. Hence it follows that, so far 
as we hold ourselves positive to all influences of 
error, refusing absolutely to see aught but good, 
we shall enter into that dominion which is our 
birthright. 

Ralph Waldo Trine says: " Thoughts of strength 
both build strength from within and attract it 
from without. Thoughts of weakness actualize 
weakness from within and attract it from with- 
out. Courage begets strength, fear begets weak- 
ness. And so courage begets success, fear begets 
failure.'' 



Ill 



CHAPTER IX 

KADIATIONS 

THE nebular theory is that the sun and the 
planets revolving around it were once a 
confused mass of fiery matter revolving rapidly 
in space. As this mass cooled and condensed, 
it formed our solar system. The planets were 
thrown off in rings which, in the rapid revolu- 
tion, were finally rolled into balls. The sun, or 
centre of the system, attracts all these planets by 
gravitation, so that they remain in the same rela- 
tive position to each other and to the central 
mass. This being the case, it is easy to see that 
the sun must have great effect upon the earth, 
and it is easy to suppose that there is inter- 
planetary attraction. As heat and electricity 
are both derived from the sun, let us see how 
great a part they play in the phenomena of 
life. 

Scientists believe that the strength of all animal 
life culminates when the sun is overhead, in the 
hours between ten a.m. and two p.m., and the 

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EADIATIONS 

" Science of a New Life " shows why a new life 
should be created between those hours. 

Astrologers are able to forecast the future of 
an individual by studying the relations of the 
planets and the sun at the date of birth. An 
English astrologer sat carefully studying the stars 
when his son was born, and said to the mother, 
" Our son will not be able to talk before he is 
nineteen years old, when a certain star will cease 
to rule his house, and he will learn to speak, and 
will follow in my footsteps." His prediction was 
true in every respect. The youth never learned 
to talk until he was nineteen years old, but after 
that his progress was rapid, and he is now a cele- 
brated reader of fate by the stars. 

Walking idly along the streets of Hartford, 
Connecticut, one bright spring morning, my 
eyes were attracted by an astrologer's sign, and 
I entered the office, desiring to be drawn into 
the vibrations of a mind which went higher 
than earth to look for cause and effect. I ex- 
plained that for many years I had been an in- 
valid, and was now a homeless wanderer, seeking 
instruction, and strangely led to what I required ; 
but just then I could see nothing ahead — no 
hope for the future. I knew that I was not 
asleep, that was all. I told him that I had but 

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SELF BUILDING 

a few dollars, and that he must not talk with 
me if his time was valuable. He asked the date 
of my birth, and after studying a few moments, 
said : " Madam, you cannot go forward, for you 
are under Cancer, the Crab, whose path is back- 
ward. You live in the past, think in the past, 
talk in the past; but on the day you learn to 
rule your stars by strong will power, you will 
take a step forward. This will come when you 
refuse to let thoughts of the past enter your 
mind." I answered, " Friend, you have spoken 
truly. I am a child of the past, revelling in its 
sorrows, and calling upon my friends to mourn 
with me. I never give the future a thought. 
I am bowed down with the weight of a sorrow- 
ful past, and yet, by sending forth vibrations to 
touch all Cancer children, helping to bind them 
in chains which pulled them backward, what 
evil I have done ! " When I left, the astrologer 
said, " You will find it impossible to do any re- 
munerative business before the twentieth of May, 
but good will follow if you cease to look back. 
Keep your thoughts fixed upon the future. 
Image what you wish it to bring, and it may 
appear. All Cancer children have the ability to 
lecture or write books. Any work on this line 
will be a success." As I went away I began to 

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RADIATIONS 

wonder how I was to live if I was to earn no 
money until nearly the first of June, but my 
next thought was to give thanks for the lesson 
I had received. Then and there I resolved to 
follow the astrologer's advice and look forward, 
not backward ; and I determined to turn my face 
towards a certain school where students were 
taught how to, rule their thoughts. While in 
Boston that which the seer foretold came to pass. 
A Boston mother consulted an astrologer con- 
cerning her young daughter. A chart was given 
her, and she was told to watch how the girl's 
future unfolded with the horoscope. It was 
predicted that in two years there would be a 
planetary influence which might work her ruin 
within three days if the girl was not watched 
carefully. The mother forgot the warning, and 
when a relative was taken ill and sent for her, 
she went, leaving her daughter in a boarding- 
house during the fateful three days. A week 
later she entered the office of the astrologer 
with the sad story of her daughter's betrayal; 
but he refused her comfort, since she had been so 
heedless of his careful warning. But where en- 
vironment works such evil to negative people, 
planetary influence may, perhaps, bring unseen 
force to help in the development of one's higher 

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SELF BUILDING 

self. Spirit being higher than matter, higher 
than any influences from planets or otherwise, 
the spiritual minded person may become immune 
from such baleful effects. Thoughts are things, 
and a positive thought attitude against danger 
will either ward off or overcome negative plane- 
tary radiations, if such there be. 

A lady once told me that for six years she 
had suffered from vibrations left by another in a 
beautiful home. An astrologer, who heard her 
remark, made a few calculations, and said, " I 
find that in those years certain planets made you 
more liable to melancholia, so that the house and 
the stars all worked together to create inharmony 
and unrest within your mind." 

If a few degrees of heat, more or less, will ex- 
tinguish human life, the question arises how to 
keep one's body at an equable temperature. As 
food generates heat, we should carefully study 
what to eat and what not to eat. We know that 
when heavy, animal food is taken into the body, 
a form of blood heat is produced which reddens 
the eyes, coarsens the skin, incites to anger, and 
engenders unrest. Can we imagine hatred, anger, 
and malice produced in the heart of a fellow- 
creature by a diet of fruits, nuts, and cereals ? 
They never kill because they are never overheat- 

116 



RADIATIONS 

ing. Absence of heat is as fatal to life as excess 
of heat, and we should strive to regulate this 
force by simplicity of life and purity of thought. 
First, we learn what foods produce heat, and what 
forms of heat are generated. We know that the 
heat of intoxication affects the will and the con- 
science. I have known men, truthful when sober, 
to tell falsehoods when under the influence of 
liquor. The most impure men and women I have 
ever met ate rare meat and drank blood-heating 
fluids. Pork, of all meats, is perhaps the most 
heating. It is said that on one side of a street 
in London were a number of Hebrew families ; 
on the opposite side were families of various 
faiths. The death-rate among the Hebrews, who 
tabooed pork, was thirty per cent less than that 
of the Gentile families. 

To do our best work we must cool our bodies 
by rest, clean thoughts, and clean food. We 
shall then be lifted out of the material plane, 
and all creatures will thus be raised a step nearer 
the Infinite. " I will draw all men unto me," 
was not an idle saying, but came from a cool 
brain and a normal heart. 

Those countries lying near the equator are 
materially affected by the directness and inten- 
sity of the sun's rays. We must know a country 

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SELF BUILDING 

before we can judge its people. I once visited 
the desert plains of Texas and found the charac- 
ter of the people corresponding with the nature 
of the cactus and mesquite, which are the most 
common forms of vegetable life in that region. 
It was beautiful to see how Mother Nature fought 
for her children. The mesquite trees were bushes 
barely above ground ; but their roots were very 
large in order that they might seek nourishment 
far below the surface. These roots were used by 
the natives as fuel, while the beans furnished 
food for both men and cattle. The mesquite 
grass, which will live for more than a year with- 
out rain, rolls itself into balls which retain such 
moisture as comes in dew, and the cattle find in 
it both food and water. There is a decided lack 
of energy and thought force among the inhab- 
itants of southern countries ; even in our Southern 
States, where the conditions of climate are im- 
proved over equatorial regions, we must make 
allowance for the eight months of summer which 
must be borne. There human life is taken under 
the heat of passion. In the North, where the 
pure, white snow of winter falls to wrap the 
earth in bridal garments, there is less crime, and 
indeed a Northern man who commits crime is far 
more guilty than his Southern brother. 

118 



RADIATION'S 

The seasons affect life and character as much 
as the poets declare, if not more. The analogy 
between the fall season and the autumn of life 
can be closely drawn. It is a time of mental 
activity after the exuberance of summer. Win- 
ter comes; Nature seems dead. But in the 
spring how happy and strong and well we feel, 
taking on new life and hope as does the veg- 
etable kingdom ! Love seems to dominate all 
mankind. Later, when the sun is baking the 
Southern cotton fields, religious fervor reaches 
its height, and camp meetings are the order of 
the day. It is a season of extremes, especially 
in the South ; for at the same time a camp meet- 
ing is in progress a revolting crime may be com- 
mitted near by. The most ignorant shouters 
become entranced, see visions, compose religious 
chants, and attain great power with which to 
conjure, and their ungoverned passions often 
lead them into the most atrocious crimes. 

Modes of building and materials affect the 
heat question. Perhaps in the future, electricity 
will be used to harden glass, making it more 
durable than wood, iron, or steel, and it will 
replace these articles for building purposes. In 
the next hundred years glass houses may be 
common. They will certainly be far more 

119 



SELF BUILDING 

beautiful than those we have now, and as they 
will keep clean easily, health will improve. It 
is predicted that electricity will supplant all 
other forms of heating, lighting, and motive 
power, thus doing away with unwholesome 
smoke and coal dust. 

As foreshadowed in the " Coming Age," each 
individual may be taught how to use his own 
magnetic forces. I once heard a psychic say 
that we should learn to store up electricity 
which would set in motion a machine which 
would lift us into the ether, and enable us to 
take journeys through space. Be that as it may, 
certain modes of life bring about, at least, hints 
of this wonderful force, as proven by telepathy. 
After practising deep breathing, sleeping in a 
cold room, bathing daily in cold water, and 
eating cereals and nuts, one is amazed and even 
startled to find the hair so charged with elec- 
tricity that sparks fly as from a fire, and flames 
run up and down the comb. I have often seen 
such exhibitions, reminding me of a display of 
fireworks. This phenomenon should always be 
witnessed in a darkened room. The hands are 
also full of this magnetism. All persons possess 
this wonderful healing force, and rejoice when 
it develops. 

120 



RADIATIONS 

In the chapter on Environment, reference was 
made to the advantages of occasional fires in our 
great cities. I am not an incendiary, but I rec- 
ognize heat as a most potent factor in the de- 
struction of disease germs. The indifference of 
authorities in regard to this most important 
matter is astonishing. Many politicians, for 
example, will refuse to lend their influence to 
the establishment of crematories, because they 
fear the loss of votes from the members of cer- 
tain religious bodies that favor the old method 
of burial. When persons die of malignant, con- 
tagious diseases, the germs are buried with them, 
perhaps to do no more harm, quite possibly to 
carry contagion through the surrounding earth 
and water to living creatures. 

I visited a friend who lived near a beautiful 
lake, and in the course of our conversation 1 
asked her if she ever bathed in it. She an- 
swered, " No, the city does not permit bathing, 
because sometimes the water is used for drinking 
purposes." I looked across the lake, and be- 
hold ! there were the white tombstones, some 
almost at the water's edge. The pity of it, that 
innocent children could not wash their living 
bodies in that lovely lake, but dead bodies could, 
drain into it, and it was taken to quench thirst ! 

121 



SELF BUILDING 

I remained in the home for a month, but I drank 
not a drop of water, using sweet milk instead. 
On my way to Boston I passed a lake surrounded 
by a large town without proper drainage, and 
learned that a part of Boston's drinking water 
came from that place. Again I was obliged to 
resort to milk as a beverage, for I could not al- 
low myself to taste water which was contami- 
nated by surface drainage. 

Very often a cemetery is set upon an elevation, 
with the city below, and it is impossible that the 
drainage from the graves will not, in some meas- 
ure, pass into the near-by streams and the cellars 
of the adjacent houses. There is a case of this 
kind in Dorchester, Massachusetts, where entire 
families are buried in a grave which costs one 
dollar. In the cellars of the houses near the 
cemetery were little pools of ill-smelling water, 
covered with a greasy slime. Walking from house 
to house I found sickness and death on every side. 
What wonder ? Similar cases without number 
could be cited. 

So stirred was I by the dreadful conditions in 
Dorchester that I visited a physician, and asked 
his help in ridding the city of such a festering 
spot. He informed me that it was impossible to 
do anything. I asked him if the priest would do 

122 



RADIATIONS 

anything to save those little children living in 
the flat lands near the cemetery, and he informed 

me that Father B would feel that it was 

none of his business, and none of mine. I was in 
despair. I consulted the wife of a Boston alder- 
man, but she said that it was as bad in her town, 
or worse. I asked her if her husband could do 
anything. In alarm she exclaimed : " Oh, no, no, 
do not think of such a thing ! It would not do 
to attempt it ! " Then I asked her for her hus- 
band's city address, and it was promised to me ; 
but she clearly avoided me from that time, and 
left the place where I was staying without offer- 
ing to keep her word. 

How long will superstitious organizations be 
allowed to contaminate earth, air, and water with 
dead bodies ? Is the process of disintegration 
which goes on in the grave less revolting than 
that which takes place in the crematory ? Both 
are processes of combustion, — one slow, the 
other rapid. Shall we sacrifice human life that 
our sensibilities be not shocked ? We have had 
" dust to dust " long enough ; let us now have a 
period of " ashes to ashes." The world will be 
more wholesome, the air will be sweeter, and the 
ancient custom will soon lose all its repellent 
features. The people of a Texas city have 

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SELF BUILDING 

burned the crematories three times, so great was 
their aversion to this method of disposing of the 
dead, and their immense cemetery on a high hill 
towers above the valley city and of course drains 
into its beautiful river, which furnishes drink- 
ing water for sixty thousand people. In a little 
town in the Cumberland Mountains the feeling 
against cremation ran so high that one speaking 
in favor of it was almost in danger of being- 
burned alive. People will have to be educated 
up to the idea, until they realize that — 

" What ye lift upon the bier 
Is not worth a wistful tear. 
7 Tis an empty sea-shell, one 
Out of which the pearl is gone ; 
The shell is broken." 

When, as in some of the smaller cities within 
a few miles of Boston, several bodies are buried 
in one grave, the last laid away being barely 
covered with earth, how terrible must be the 
results ! Mrs. Bruce, of the Wayside Chapel, 
Maiden, worked years to get her city to pass an 
ordinance forbidding the burial of more than one 
body in a grave. At first no one was willing to 
lift a hand, but her courage and determination 
at last carried the day, and the law was passed. 
Would there were more like her ! 

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RADIATIONS 

While conditions exist as they are now, there 
will always be down-trodden, superstitious poor. 
Our duty is to lift them up. The first thing to 
be done is to feed their bodies. Places should 
be provided where they can get pure food at 
lowest cost, and then they will be more ready to 
listen to reason regarding the disposal of their 
bodies when they have left them behind. Cities 
should establish crematories, where the bodies of 
the poor can be reduced to sweet, clean ashes at 
no expense. 

He who would sit always in the sunlight must 
be continually changing his position. No matter 
how human beings grope in darkness, we realize 
that the sun must, at some time, touch them, 
bringing mental growth. Ignorance and preju- 
dice will vanish and new beauty develop. 
These qualities were always within, and the soul, 
apparently asleep, was only waiting until the 
springtime brought warmth, color, and har- 
mony to drive away the barriers to its perfect 
unfoldment. 



125 



CHAPTER X 

COLOR 

WHEN by a white life — a life of pure 
thoughts and desires — we have brought 
ourselves into a condition where all sound is 
music, all color a delight, then we are a step 
nearer the Infinite, our ears are opened, and we 
rejoice and call upon the hills, birds, trees, and 
man to enjoy with us this heaven upon earth. 
Since heaven is within the mind, it is no more 
gained when the soul leaves the body for the last 
time than when a trip is taken from New Eng- 
land to San Francisco. We must so live here 
and now " in tune with the Infinite," sending out 
so much love for all, that we may thereby lift 
ourselves into the vibrations of the higher, Uni- 
versal Mind. Our eyes and ears will then be 
opened to receive from Nature as she reveals her 
secrets in the color of the ocean waves or in the 
rustle of the leaves upon the trees. We are helped 
and sustained by Nature's green when we realize 
the similarity between the trees and the life of 

126 



COLOR 

man. Prentice Mulford wrote of it in " God in 
the Trees," and since reading it I strive to see 
God in stones and flowers. Color should always 
draw us nearer to nature. 

In winter, when viewing the glistening fields, 
think, " My soul must be as white as this earth's 
carpet." Then turn your eyes to the blue of the 
skies, and new thought power will be created 
by the vibrations. When you see a bright red 
cloak, instead of thinking of the pronounced 
taste, contact that color, and gain strength for 
body and soul, and thank God that some one 
has the courage to wear that which will help you 
gain and grow. A color specialist said if he 
had a young child to train, he would once every 
day shut him alone in a room where the walls 
were covered with red, shaded from white pink 
to deep black red, everything in the room to be 
of the same hues, and would give him blocks to 
play with of the same colors. He maintained 
that increase in brain and physical strength 
would certainly follow. 

When you have ridden for two days over 
prairies which are a mass of gorgeous blossom, 
you feel strong and happy, and it is certainly a 
most life-giving stimulant that you have uncon- 
sciously been drinking in as you looked from the 

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SELF BUILDING 

car window. I once rode from Waco to San 
Antonio in the spring when the prairies were 
in full bloom. A little girl who went with me 
had read Mayne Reid's books, and the vibratory 
force gained therefrom was so strong that the 
little musician saw and felt the art atmosphere, 
talking of nothing else but the glorious colors 
with which nature had bespangled the prairies. 
This child had heard a singer whose voice was 
exquisite in tone and quality, and in describing 
the voice she said, "His voice was amber, — a 
clear, beautiful amber." On questioning her it 
was ascertained that all tones appealed to her as 
color. Take a child like that on a journey, and 
you will be well repaid if you wish to study 
color and its effect on the human mind. 

It is now claimed that brain can be awakened 
and built through contact with color. The sick 
are healed, and Mexicans have proven that 
small-pox does not mark a patient if the light 
in the room comes through red blankets. The 
violet rays of Finzen heal lupus and kindred 
ailments, and I have seen marvellous cures 
made by application of the X-rays. Music is 
taught in some of our schools with or by color. 
The cotton fields of the South, as well as the 
Northern snow, help to build new brain cells, the 

128 



COLOR 

dark tree trunks having a strong place in the 
mental picture. With each change of season 
come the colors arranged by nature, and if we 
learn how to " contact " color, great awakening 
ensues. Consciously or unconsciously unfold- 
ment goes on, for nature is all the time working 
to lift man above the lower material or animal 
plane. The snow fields give to the world 
strong thinkers, while wild flowers, Southern 
skies and fields create idealists, such as Father 
Ryan and Edgar Poe. A consul to a French 
port told me that along the Rhine, in seasons 
of dark rainy weather, the government station 
guards to prevent mercurial people from commit- 
ting suicide by jumping into the river, and not- 
withstanding the greatest care, many take their 
own lives after a storm has veiled the sun for a 
few days. 

When we begin to awaken to the world of color, 
we find beauty revealed in clouds, trees, stones, 
water, birds, animals, people ; in fact, this earth 
soon becomes heaven. When clean, the hair con- 
tains all the rainbow colors ; calm, luminous eyes 
become the possession of a man when he ceases 
to feed upon his fellow-creatures, and lives in 
harmony with the animal world. Then his eyes 
open to the symphony of color given by Nature's 

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SELF BUILDING 

mother-hand to all forms of life, that her 
children may enjoy and be lifted one step nearer 
the higher vibrations, or Universal Mind. As 
the poet beautifully sings : — 

" Would ye but understand, 

Joy is on every hand ; 
Shut your eyes and call it night, 
Ye grope and fall in seas of light ; 

Would ye but understand, 

Joy is on every hand." 

Think how Mother Nature has spread a carpet 
of golden-rod from the far North to the Mexican 
border ; no state is without this help to spiritual 
unfoldment. 

At Harvard there is an instrument so delicate 
that fastened to the wrist of a sensitive it reflects 
various changes in the color of blood under 
certain thoughts : red is the color of anger, 
green, of envy, and yellow, of jealousy. Like 
the chameleon, we take on new colors continually 
by our thoughts and feelings. To be happy and 
healthy, keep the mind free from all forms of 
lower vibrations, and lift yourself into the 
sapphire sea of higher light. 

In southern Texas you may see a lizard resting 
under a mesquite bush ; drop a stone near it and 
it becomes a bright green, just the color of 

130 



COLOR 

the grass upon which it crawls, instead of the 
dull brown of a moment before. According to 
modern scientists, we resemble the lizard in 
certain ways. The vision of some people is so 
open that they see all the rainbow colors about 
our heads. I have been told that a certain New 
York psychic can tell when, by constant thinking 
upon one line, a color in our aura is drawn out 
of place, thereby causing physical illness. He 
advised a lady of his acquaintance to wear pink 
continually to keep herself rightly poised in the 
world of color. When we begin to study colors 
for the purpose of gaining strength physically, 
mentally, and morally, and consequently learn 
how harmful it is to others to look upon our 
black dresses, we shall wear colors as a spiritual 
duty, and thus help instead of retarding people. 
The church has its colors for each season as 
nature has. Learn your lessons from nature. 
Many a hot June day in Texas I have gained 
strength by fixing my eyes upon the top of a 
green tree, forgetting thereby the one hundred 
and seventeen degrees in the shade. I seemed 
lifted above the sun-baked earth, and in a new 
world where I gained new brain power to hold my 
nerves in check. Each bright cloud can bring us 

from the lower to the higher vibrations, and I find 

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SELF BUILDING 

nothing so helpful as lulling the conscious mind, 
and coming in contact with the ether when those 
white, fleecy clouds are passing. On shipboard, in 
the Gulf of Mexico, one can sit for hours and gaze 
upon the constantly changing colors in the water, 
— now deep blue over the coral reefs, then a white 
palace, and as you get into Florida Keys, you 
will find the colors of the prairie flowers in the 
water. In the spring we need green after so 
much white of winter, or Nature would not have 
put it on as her universal gown. I watch for 
the first unfolding of the baby leaves, contrasting 
the various colors. The autumn foliage in the 
fells can produce and build strength for the 
winter. White and red symbolize strength and 
fire. 

In the Wayside Chapel, colors have been put 
on every stone and board from cellar to observa- 
tory ; lessons are thus taught in these pictures of 
life's journey. An amusing incident is related 
of one of the picture scenes in the cellar. A bit 
of lake is represented with cat-tails growing 
therein. A mother was viewing this when she 
recalled a remark of her little daughter who 
visited the country for the first time the previous 
summer. The mother said, " See, Ethel, all 
those cat-tails." The child burst out crying, and 

132 






COLOR 

when her sobs allowed her to speak, wailed, 
"Oh, mamma, all the poor cats are drowned, 
and their tails are sticking out of the muddy 
water.' ' 

When my friends began to have their bed- 
chambers done in one or two colors, I regarded 
it as a fashionable fad ; but now I understand 
how much was gained, for let me walk or ride 
through fields of golden-rod, or watch a sunset, 
and I am greatly helped in body, mind, and 
soul. Learn to watch for the color in stones, 
the lights and shadows upon the ocean, the 
colors in the clouds and in the eyes of God's 
creatures ; watch for the color in the cheeks of 
little children before they have grown coarse by 
eating gross flesh — even the hair of such chil- 
dren is more beautiful, for clean hair throws 
out many colors. 

When you purchase an article of dress, choose 
that which will bring help to those whom you 
pass on life's journey. Many times I have been 
strengthened by a cloak worn by an artist, which 
was of green lined with grayish pink stuff, and 
the garment was a perfect inspiration to me. 
I chanced to meet another artist who wore a 
bright scarlet cape; again I was helped. Try 
to do your part in aiding nature, and lifting the 

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SELF BUILDING 

children of earth one step nearer the ideal. To 
ascend to a higher plane where we find truth 
and help, we must desire to bring earth's weak 
ones strength required in life's battle. We must 
open their eyes to beauty, holding them so 
firmly by the hand that it will be impossible 
to grope, stumble, or fall. Glorious visions of 
color may come to us when a dark storm rages 
outside. 

A popular and talented actress indicates by 
the color of her gowns the various emotions 
of the heart which she so realistically depicts. 
Red, she declares, means passionate love, and 
if the mood is vengeful, she adds a red hat. In- 
tense red always indicates an increased activity 
of the blood. Pink is appropriate for tender and 
confiding love. Subdued gray, or russet, bor- 
rowed from the hue of the falling leaves, best- 
expresses the feelings when sadness overshadows 
the heart and " all the world is brown." White 
or the tender green of the opening spring buds 
is symbolical of the pure joyousness of girlhood. 
Dark blue is indicative of a martial spirit, while 
pale blue befits the dreamer and builder of fan- 
ciful castles in Spain. Purple expresses repent- 
ance, and black, abject woe. 

Think how the apple blossoms begin. First 
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COLOR 

there are the beautiful pink buds, and later the 
paler blossoms; then white leaves cover the 
ground, and in their place, the little green fruit 
comes. And behold ! within one short week the 
entire dress of the tree has been transformed. 
Instead of pink, it is now a beautiful green; 
later the ripe fruit brings a stronger color, and 
after that the rest and sleep in the bed with 
white snow blankets for covering. But, mark 
you, all the time it gives out some color which 
helps man develop the thinking power, either 
consciously or subconsciously. 

Think of the little girl with her wealth of 
curls like spun glass ; a few years pass, and her 
hair is the color of her wedding ring. As time 
goes on, the brown takes the place of the gold ; it 
deepens and gives strength of perfect woman- 
hood, until, like the tree, her tresses fade, and 
the prints of time leave the snownakes in her 
hair to soften and give new beauty to the face. 

What secrets are told to the student by the 
hair ! The red or tawny hair — how much 
power it holds ! People who possess this hair 
feel ofttimes that they are accursed ; we should 
show them what a mine of love and affection 
may be hidden under the Titianesque tresses. 
They are full of the power and strength which 

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SELF BUILDING 

the color they represent gives to us when we 
understand that nature does nothing without a 
reason. It is for a deep and wise purpose that 
nature revels in color, and it is to the end that 
the children of earth shall grow up and not 
down. 

Those who have travelled over the desert, 
where all trees and plants grow largely under 
ground, note with surprise the effect of the 
absence of color upon the natives. The study 
is worth a trip across the continent. If human 
beings have a musical key-note, they have also 
a color key-note. After three months spent in 
a desert I returned to the beautiful fields of 
Kentucky. I did not understand my depression 
in body and mind until I took a drive on Third 
Avenue, leading to Louisville's most beautiful 
park, and when we came to the noble trees I 
said : " This is what I wanted. I was ill because 
I saw no color, no trees — I am well now." A 
child born on the desert, never seeing a tree 
until eight months of age, was taken to San 
Antonio and put on a blanket under an umbrella 
china tree, and the little fellow would lie for 
hours on his back watching the beautiful leaves 
which spread over him — Nature's green um- 
brella. So thick and dense is the shade of these 

136 



COLOR 

trees that they often afford shelter from a sum- 
mer shower. They seem to be created just for 
the climate of southern Texas. 

Certain stones take color from the wearer, 
changing from deep blue to green. Look at those 
crystals in the Boston Art Museum, and note the 
color. I sometimes go in just to stand before that 
thirty-six thousand dollar crystal with the smaller 
ones grouped about the case. A psychic whom 
I know claims to read the future in one which 
once belonged to a Hindoo temple, or religious 
order. I am told that it takes a religious person 
a lifetime to polish one of those crystals with 
the hand, as no instrument of steel is allowed to 
touch the sacred stone in which sensitives are to 
read past and future events. 

Many years ago I met the wife of a locomotive 
engineer who wore an opal ring which changed 
color with the wearer's mood. If her husband's 
train was not on time, or she felt anxious about 
anything, you could tell it by the dull milky 
color of the opal, and one look at that woman's 
ring would always show her mental or physical 
condition. When happy and well, its transpar- 
ency would show all the rainbow colors. 

Blue Point, Gay Head, and other colored cliffs 
are given to help the people of earth. No longer 

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SELF BUILDING 

pass these things by as only fit for painter or 
poet, but use them to draw yourself into artistic 
vibrations which will be reflected upon your 
physical body. Watch the eyes accustomed to 
gaze upon beauty ; they reflect the colors, and 
we should grasp color when it is presented in 
any form. 

Some persons use ordinary colored balls in- 
stead of crystals for concentration ; but I say use 
the things Nature has given us, for she colors 
everything which she creates. 

I was told by a lady that she once took charge 
of a child who was considered an idiot, and reached 
his brain through a prism ; concentrating upon 
color, his brain unfolded. Through their great 
love for color many dull children learn to use their 
minds — I mean those who could never learn a 
lesson in an overheated schoolroom. Let them 
walk on the banks of a creek, under the trees, 
listening to the music of falling water over a dis- 
tant mill-dam, and the love of knowledge will 
come. They will listen to the song of the katy- 
did or the various notes of a mocking-bird. The 
lessons on the dull-printed pages will often make 
them ill, while the piano and the wild flowers help 
to keep them alive after toiling in an overcrowded 
room. Dull children usually love beauty in any 

138 



COLOR 

form; in fact, while watching a graceful pose, 
bright eyes, pink cheeks, and pretty colors in the 
hair of their fellow-pupils, how can they look at 
books ? Even the horses, ponies, and donkeys, 
staked out in the distance waiting to bear the 
children to their homes, are much more likely 
to attract attention than a dictionary or spell- 
ing book. We may often find in fragrance and 
color of flowers the secret of dealing with this 
class, and instead of punishing them, we should 
give them pretty thoughts about harmonious 
colors, and aid them by pleasant surroundings. 
By contacting color we practise concentration 
of sight which, in turn, reaches the brain. 

On looking from an attic window upon the 
red chimneys one gains strength, the green tree- 
tops give help, and there is nothing between the 
vision and the blue sky except an occasional 
strong-winged bird. Thus, in every position 
in life, we find compensation. 



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CHAPTER XI 

CONCENTRATION 

THE practical truth of the trite maxim, " In 
union there is strength," has been demon- 
strated many times by personal experience; but 
the real value of union is based on a fact 
which has a deeper significance than that of the 
simple conjunction of several bodies otherwise 
disconnected. These may be placed side by 
side, but this position is not the one best fitted 
to give the greatest strength. A round column 
gives a greater support than a square one of the 
same material and diameter, although the super- 
ficial area of the latter is greater and it contains 
greater mass. The reason is that the particles 
of a round column are all arranged with refer- 
ence to a common centre ; that is, the resisting 
force is more concentrated. The real, or basic 
principle of strength, therefore, is concentration, 
the true value of which will be more clearly 
manifested when we consider radiation, which 
is directly opposed to it. For instance, a beam 
of white light results from the combination of 

140 



CONCENTRATION 

a number of colored rays, each having its own 
special property, but none having the complete 
series of properties possessed by the white beam 
formed by them. The result is more than the 
simple addition of similar qualities, and the 
white beam is endowed not only with a special 
quality of its own, but also with the special 
qualities of all its component colored rays, and 
in their greatest strength, that is, in the highest 
degree of concentration. 

This principle is applicable to the senses of all 
animal organisms. When an organism has been 
deprived of one or more of its special senses, the 
remaining ones often exhibit an increased activ- 
ity, as if to make up for the deprivation. The 
deaf child learns to hear with the eyes; the 
blind child learns to see with the fingers. The 
loss sustained cannot, of course, be perfectly 
compensated, yet a very good recompense is 
made. The white light formed by the com- 
bination of two or three of the color rays has 
not all the perfection belonging to the white 
beam containing all the color rays, yet it gives 
the partial effect of the perfect white light. 
The activity of a single sense will always be 
attended with some good results, though neces- 
sarily limited in scope. Therefore best results 

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SELF BUILDING 

can be obtained when all the senses cooperate 
so that their action is concentrated. This ac- 
counts for the acuteness of certain senses some- 
times exhibited by animals as well as men. 
Senses and instincts are physical habits of the 
organism, and we may conclude that, other 
things being equal, the fewer the special in- 
stincts or senses, the more acute will be those 
that are developed, owing to there being greater 
concentration at these particular points. 

It has long been known, especially to the 
Oriental philosophers, that by mental concentra- 
tion the mind is able to construct a fresh field of 
view. Mr. Spence Hardy, in his " Legends a,nd 
Theories of the Buddhists," tells us that there 
are certain mystic powers possessed by Hindoo 
devotees which are to be obtained only through 
the meditative concentration of all the mind 
faculties. He says that the devotee who has 
practised this profound meditation aright acquires 
control over the invisible world. " Being one, 
he is multiplied and becomes many; being many, 
he individualizes and becomes one ; he makes 
himself visible or invisible; he can distinguish 
the sounds made by men and i devas ' that are 
not audible to others, whether near or distant ; 
he can know the minds of all beings ; he acquires 

142 



CONCENTRATION 

divine vision , by which he sees sentient beings 
as they pass from one state of existence to 
another ; he also acquires divine knowledge, by 
which he knows the cause of the beginning or 
cessation of sorrow and evil. He becomes the 
master of the ' Sacred Word,' the efficacy of 
which depends mainly upon the form in which 
it is uttered." 

Here may be seen the power of concentration, 
for the " Word " is a concentrated expression of 
the will. The development of the power of the 
will through concentration accounts for many of 
the phenomena of hypnotism, for the suggestion 
which forms the basis of the control of the hyp- 
notist over his subject is really volitional, and not 
simply suggestive in the ordinary sense of the 
term. That the will can be exercised at a dis- 
tance is fully established, although how it oper- 
ates is a mystery. Perhaps the mind is able to 
put an ethereal medium in vibration, and thus 
convey its commands in a manner analogous to 
the way the electric current is transmitted to a 
predetermined point without a wire or other 
special conductor. In either case great initial 
concentration must be required. Everything in 
nature is a centre of radiate force, and this must 
be especially true of the brain, which is the mate- 

143 



SELF BUILDING 

rial organ, or centre of force for the mind. We 
know the mind can affect the physical body 
through the brain. As thought is a spiritual 
activity expressed through a material organism, 
every human being may be regarded as a centre 
from which proceeds spiritual good or evil. With 
the concentration of thought this influence is in- 
tensified, awakening in other minds correspond- 
ing thoughts, as the vibration of one electrified 
wire arouses into activity another wire in sym- 
pathy with it. We speak to our fellows, uncon- 
sciously it may be, but in tones whose vibrations 
reach the soul, and thus we are aided in reaching 
ideals which otherwise might have faded away 
like a passing dream. 

Concentration is, therefore, the principle of 
force which stands in opposition to the principle 
of radiation, which, taken by itself, is expressive 
of weakness ; taken together, however, they in- 
sure progress in that which constitutes physical 
and psychical evolution, and which applies alike 
to man and to the infinite universe of which man 
is a finite expression. 

In order that any government may win victory 
over an enemy, its troops must be concentrated, 
army and navy working together to strengthen 
the weakest and most exposed parts of the field. 

144 



CONCENTRATION 

There must be no neglect, however, among officers 
or men of the daily practice required in time of 
peace, so that they may work together in perfect 
unison when the watchmen on guard signal the 
approach of the foe. 

So it is with our citadel on the hill — the 
brain. We must take the same precautions if 
we would acquire enough physical, mental, and 
spiritual power to rout the foes which draw near 
in the shape of fear, anger, pride, covetousness, 
discontent, hurry, and avarice, and which cause 
the neglect of the " temple not made with 
hands." 

People should concentrate upon the most triv- 
ial things which their hands find to do ; for in- 
stance, an old and homeless woman was wont to 
pass her time with relatives and friends. When 
asked to visit strangers, she would answer : " I 
shall be glad to go if you will let me dry the 
dishes after each meal. I find it very helpful 
to use this mode of concentration, thinking all 
the time I work, i I wish to keep my mind and 
soul just as bright and fair to look upon as this 
china and silver. ' Her dishes are always 
carefully and thoroughly done, and her soul has 
unfolded marvellously. 

The habit of doing one thing and thinking of 
145 



SELF BUILDING 

another, scatters one's forces to a great degree. 
For example, while taking your morning bath, 
think, " Cleanliness is next to godliness," or call 
to mind the ancient form of baptism. By watch- 
ing your thoughts you will understand how hard 
it is to concentrate them upon one subject, but 
keep practising until your will is the master 
which directs the brain work. After the bath 
give the muscles and joints a few moments' ex- 
ercise, thinking, " I will lift up mine eyes unto 
the hills, from whence cometh my help," or of 
some positive lesson, for instance, " There are no 
limitations in my world." With each movement 
of the body, new and beautiful thoughts should 
fill the mind. Some highly developed mystics 
prefer to eat alone as they can then concentrate 
on the power contained in the clean food, which 
is creating their strength. They picture to them- 
selves how grain looked when it first sprang 
from Mother Earth ; then, as time passed and 
concentration began within its heart, how its 
power increased, and how full of strength and 
life it became. The figs, which grow upon trees 
so fragrant that even the dried leaves emit a 
dainty perfume when crushed in the hand, bring 
to them pictures of the blue sky and the warm 
sun under which they grew, and of the generous, 

146 



CONCENTRATION 

warm-hearted men and women who, perchance, 
sat under the trees and enjoyed the fresh fruit. 
Dates and nuts, which contain such abundant 
nutriment, also grow amid scenes upon which 
their minds dwell with profit. The mighty trees 
have borne the storms and heat through many 
years, and are yet sending out new life. Sweet 
milk is full of strength ; while drinking it they 
concentrate upon thoughts of freedom for the 
animals, which also means the freedom of man 
from sickness, ignorance, and premature death. 

When their eyes are lifted higher than earthly 
things, they claim power to awaken all souls to 
higher and better views, and they believe that it 
will come. As they pass along in the roar and 
rush of a great city, they think, " I am one with 
the power which creates this noise, and these 
people are my brothers and sisters." They afnrai 
gladness and wisdom for those who carry sadness 
and ignorance written upon their faces. 

A friend related how anxious she was to hold 
the people of her church for a few moments in 
silent prayer. She had learned the power of si- 
lence, and, though disliking to make a formal re- 
quest, her heart was so hopeful that the church 
would learn the lesson which she had learned 
that she was not surprised to see the congrega- 

147 



SELF BUILDING 

tion, just as she entered, about to kneel to offer 
silent thanksgiving. She had concentrated upon 
that thought for some days, and her prayer was 
answered. 

In the morning, when you awake, mentally 
magnetize yourself, saying, " Each particle of this 
body shall be kept to the honor and glory of 
God." Then image what you wish to do, and if 
it is what you need for your soul unfoldment, it 
will come with blessing ; otherwise it might be a 
curse. For instance, a woman wanted money, 
and concentrated upon the thought until it came, 
but alas ! from people who had no more than 
they needed. One five-dollar bill came from a 
place infected with small-pox, and although she 
tried to protect the people into whose innocent 
hands it fell, the curse came, and she learned a 
lesson, — never to use the power of concentration 
for mere personal gain or material wants. I 
have been told that a person who desired a cer- 
tain article of wearing apparel concentrated 
thought upon it until some one sent the article 
or brought the money to buy it. However, people 
suffer for this misuse of power, and will be forced 
eventually to work out their lesson. With power 
exhausted, some are suffering from physical ail- 
ments, and- are obliged to resort to others for 

148 



CONCENTRATION 

help. Better never try to gain centre or poise 
if we are to use it as vampires against our igno- 
rant neighbors. 

Concentration can be gained by the use of a 
watch. Hold it in the hand with the eyes rest- 
ing upon it and thought directed to it alone. At 
first a few seconds of concentrated attention can 
be given ; but the length of time will increase 
with repeated trials, until one can sit fifteen min- 
utes three times a day. Nothing will bring such 
large returns as thus centring the mental powers. 
New brain cells will form, and the senses become 
keener, bringing power worth more than much 
fine gold. 

The Hindoos tell us to sit quietly and fix our 
minds upon the likeness existing between the 
heart of man and the lotus flower. The lotus 
begins in the mud, but finally lifts its head to the 
sun — the source of life upon earth. The flower 
sways with the tides, but never breaks, keeping 
on the surface of the water, where it spreads 
its green leaves. When the sun has touched its 
heart, the higher unfoldment begins, and its 
color, grace, and beauty gladden the children of 
the world. Man must feel his oneness with the 
Source of all life if he would unfold. By sitting 
quietly alone in the stillness, in order that the 

149 



SELF BUILDING 

celestial light may be reflected, rays of it will 
touch the soul until it opens and expands, thereby 
causing new beauty and strength to lift all who 
come in contact with the plane on which the 
man lives. The Hindoos also enjoin quiet and 
rest as a means of gaining power. People should 
claim a few weeks or months of every year to go 
alone to some quiet place where force can be gen- 
erated which will help them far more than years 
of saving and economy.' It is claimed that the 
people of the Western world concentrate too 
much on the frivolities of life. We are assured 
by Oriental teachers that the returns are very 
great when one comes in touch with the vibra- 
tions of the Universal Mind. 

The practice of concentration has helped me 
very much, for it has enabled me to enter into 
the thought realm, where I can learn that which 
I would know. A Boston physician told me 
that by practising concentration he had gained 
the power to see into any home, city, or country, 
and could bring before his physical vision either 
a friend or an enemy. To do this requires great 
power of concentration, growing out of years of 
constant practice. 

One way of acquiring concentration is by 
imaging to yourself what you wish to become, 

150 



CONCENTRATION 

and where you wish to be placed in the world. 
It is claimed by Buddha's followers that it was 
by the power of concentration that he remem- 
bered his many incarnations, being perfectly fa- 
miliar with each separate life that he had lived 
upon earth. Hence his ability to teach, for he 
did not have to begin afresh — he did not have 
to learn all in one life. Oriental sages claim 
that the practice of concentration opens up or 
unlocks the fountain of wisdom gained in past 
lives. 

No one can be expected to believe in reincar- 
nation unless he knows of his own past, and 
some teachers claim that comes through daily 
practice of concentration before each meal. One 
summer a boy of eight years came to live in the 
tent next to mine. Our tables were close to- 
gether at the inn, and I was able to observe him 
closely. He was very intelligent, but his parents 
felt great uneasiness because of one peculiarity. 
He was born three months before his expected 
birth, and just as soon as he began to talk he 
told of a land where he had last lived, describing 
the people and their laws. From his descriptions 
it was plain that the people he had known were 
in an advanced stage of development — the boy 
himself showed a knowledge superior to that of 

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SELF BUILDING 

his parents. Despite the wonderful discernment 
exhibited by this child, the neighbors called him 
crazy. The mother took him to a wise Hindoo 
priest who was teaching in the Monsalvat School, 
and was told that in the case of children pre- 
maturely born, a recollection of the previous 
life was often retained. He said that the soul 
of this child entered the body just as the boy was 
born, for the theory is that the soul enters in the 
sixth month of the period of gestation. The 
sleep which lulls the spirit to forgetfulness had 
not fallen upon the soul of this boy, hence the 
behavior which the Scots would call " uncanny." 
He is a lovely child, but never cares to be with 
other children, because he is a man in thought, 
talking of people and events of which those 
around him have no knowledge. According 
to statements regarding his last home life, 
women rule the country by the power of mental 
and moral superiority. 

Another instance is found in the case of a 
young woman now residing in New York. Her 
memory of another life makes her present life 
very bitter, as her friends refuse to believe any 
of her statements. She writes stories of India, 
making a good income, and she tells me that 
every one of her stories is written about inci- 

152 



CONCENTRATION 

dents connected with her previous life. She 
describes the villages, homes, and people as 
clearly as a native could. I heard a Hindoo 
pundit declare that she must have seen them 
because the pictures are so perfect. 

Concentration is within the reach of every one 
who desires to train the subconscious mind for 
the unfoldment of selfhood. Never concentrate 
for selfish ends, but if we wish to keep the 
physical instrument of the soul in perfect order, 
we should practise some form of concentration. 
A few moments in the subconscious state will 
do more to right the physical body than six 
hours' sleep. Take time for this, therefore; 
practice is the road to power. Would a musician 
understand music if he had not concentrated his 
thoughts upon it day after day, thereby bring- 
ing himself into harmonious vibrations with 
the Invisible Source of all harmony ? Could the 
great fortunes of to-day have been amassed but 
for this power which develops "vril" or will? 

When you lift your physical body into har- 
mony with itself by freeing your joints and 
muscles, in part you free your mental dynamo, 
and this must be done if you wish to be nearer 
the Infinite Source of power, the Universal 
Mind. Practise concentration that you may 

153 



SELF BUILDING 

become positive to the lower vibrations, which 
pull you earthward and are opposed to the 
vibrations whereby you gain wisdom and soul- 
unfoldment. 

Mr. B is a man totally uneducated, yet 

his instruction is stronger spiritually than that of 
any teacher I have known. By lulling the con- 
scious mind and concentrating his desire for 
spiritual wisdom upon the higher spheres, he 
claims that he is able to project his astral body 
into those higher realms as Swedenborg did, 
returning with strange and wondrous informa- 
tion for those to whom he speaks. 

Examples of the Power of Concentration 

While dining with a friend, I noticed a very 
beautiful picture hanging on the wall opposite 
the table. I remarked, " What a beautiful pic- 
ture of your little girl!" My friend did not 
seem to hear, and I asked, " Where did you find 
an artist who could do such work as that ? " 
Still she remained silent, apparently intent upon 
the needs of her children on the other side of the 
table. When I spoke again of the picture, she 
said, " After dinner I will explain." Later she 
told me that several months before her little 
daughter was born she bought this picture, and 

154 



CONCENTRATION 

by looking at it daily, and concentrating her 
mind upon its beauty, she had photographed the 
face upon her unborn child. 

The following shows the effects of concen- 
trated anger. Professor S , of Washington, 

D. C.j told me this personal experience. He and 
two others, a Philadelphian and a New Yorker, 
were partners in a business enterprise. The 
professor and the man from Philadelphia wished 
to sell, as a good offer had been made for the 
property, and the New Yorker was notified to 
that effect. He, however, sent a curt refusal, 
which so enraged the Philadelphian that while 
reading the letter he struck the desk a sharp 
blow with his fist, saying, " I'll kill him ! " The 
New Yorker at that moment fell upon the floor 
of his office with what the doctor called an apo- 
plectic stroke. He passed away in about three 

days. Professor S said that his remaining 

partner declared that he murdered his friend by 
that fit of concentrated angry thought force. 

I was told at a lecture that a physician re- 
ceived a telegram from his mother two hundred 
miles away, saying that she must submit to a 
surgical operation at once. The doctor went 
into the subconscious state, entered into the 
details of the case, and then wired : " Do not 

155 



SELF BUILDING 

allow them to operate. I will meet the doctors 
in your room." The surgeons came, and the 
physician by concentration threw his body into 
a state of trance, and then projected his astral 
body into his mother's room and showed the others 
what to do. When he returned to consciousness 
in his own room, he found that his soul had trav- 
elled two hundred miles in twenty minutes ; that 
is, he regained consciousness twenty minutes after 
he went into the subconscious state. 

This form of power is gained by years of 
constant practice of concentration three times a 
day before eating ; active brain work draws the 
blood from the stomach, and, after eating, the 
blood is required to digest our food. 

A lady whose brother smoked incessantly 
asked to have him mentally treated, or sug- 
gested, psychologically, that smoking was bad 
for himself and his friends. At night he was 
sent a thought current to arouse his higher 
nature into action. The next day he said that 
at four o'clock in the morning a voice aroused 
him out of a sound sleep, and abused him, as he 
expressed it, for contaminating the environment 
hi which ladies must live. He also said that he 
plainly saw the psychologist standing by his 
bed. At four o'clock that morning she (the 

156 



CONCENTRATION 

psychologist) was resting on her bed, giving him 
a mental treatment. Three days later he gave 
up smoking and threw away pipes and tobacco. 
His mind was aroused to a realization of the 
weakness which he manifested by constant self 
indulgence, and at the same time helped by re- 
newing his faith in himself to overcome the 
habit. In this way many people are able to 
heal disease simply by renewing the mind of 
the patient. By suggestion, mental and moral 
diseases can be treated most successfully. 

Dr. M told me the following story. His 

little niece had found a bird's nest into which 
she could look when she stood on his shoulder. 
She watched the nest day after day until it con- 
tained some tiny eggs. After that she was 
taken ill with scarlet fever, yet she talked of 
the bird, its nest, and the little ones she ex- 
pected to come out of the eggs. Time passed, 
and as her body was being consumed, her mind 
was still concentrated upon the nest in the tree. 
One day she exclaimed, " The little birdies have 
come ; two are out, and another is opening the 
shell." The doctor went out, and there they 
were, as the little psychic had described. The 
next day she entered the field of clearer vision 
for the last time. 

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CHAPTER XII 

MEDITATION 

ASWAMI tells of a Hindoo who wished to 
gain immortality, therefore he decided to 
withdraw from human companionship and se- 
clude himself within the depth of the forest, 
that through uninterrupted meditation he might 
better prepare himself for the change called 
death. Since in the simplicity of his life in 
the wilderness he would need very little of this 
world's goods, he proposed giving all his vast 
wealth to his wife, but she inquired, " What is 
immortality?" When she understood that it 
meant life after death, she told her husband that 
his wealth must be given to some one else, for 
she desired also to enter the forest. 

The desire for immortality springs eternal 
within the human heart, and all thoughtful 
people at some period of their lives desire to 
" enter the forest." The forest may be a back 
hall room in a crowded city or an isolated cabin 
among the hills. It means the giving up of 

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MEDITATION 

earthly desires for the peace of God which 
passeth understanding. Then when so-called 
death comes to us, it should simply mean the 
abandonment of one house to enter a new and 
more beautiful one created by pure thoughts, 
kind deeds, and unselfish lives. Let us help 
others to see the light, holding no human being 
in bondage, for freedom must come to the soul be- 
fore it can gain by concentration and meditation. 
To win the battle of life we must concentrate 
our forces by going at least fifteen minutes three 
times a day into the silence, thus stilling the 
conscious mind and letting the subconscious 
dwell for a time where it may receive vibrations 
from the Universal Mind. If we are engaged in 
modern warfare, we must use the latest approved 
methods of conquering our foes. To know the 
country surrounding the field upon which the 
battle is fought is all-important. So a wise 
general orders out the balloon forces, and thus 
obtains a more lofty view than any mountain or 
hill can give of the enemy's position and the 
obstacles to be overcome. By concentration of 
various gases power is gained to lift that frail 
craft into space where the air is purer and colder 
and the knowledge is obtained which may save 
the army from destruction. Force had to be 

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SELF BUILDING 

created to gain the power to ascend, but there 
must be another force to bring back the knowl- 
edge acquired. So meditation, which in reality 
is mind-using, is the second power. After the 
stillness, fix your mental force upon one subject, 
and wait for the messages which will come just 
as fast as they can be received. Man possesses 
the power to enter the mental body, which in 
turn leads to that lighter astral force which will 
lift him as the gas does the balloon. But now 
comes the moment when you want the trained 
eye to photograph the country, and bring back 
the vision ; there, again, the memory must be 
trained in a new school or you may come and 
go for six hours out of the twenty-four, and yet 
retain no picture of what you have seen, heard, 
or felt. If man lives upon the pure spiritual 
plane, the memory of the vision will be stronger, 
leaving a deeper impression. 

Meditate upon strength when you sit in a 
street car, and then give up your place to an 
old man, the tired shop girl, or the feeble woman. 
Even make way for the dusty laborer, the condi- 
tion of whose hands and garments has made 
him ashamed to ask a well-dressed woman to 
make room for him. Single out the weakest, and 
declare and attract strength by giving up your 

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MEDITATION 

seat, thinking : " I am strong. I am full of the 
power of life and spirit, and, knowing this, I can 
stand for hours, that those who believe themselves 
weak may rest." Instead of becoming weary, you 
gain double strength ; for a physical, mental, 
and spiritual development follows this sort of 
meditation. 

Again, some one you love passes into the 
higher life ; you wish to build a marble monu- 
ment or place flowers upon the grave to show 
the world that you remember. Meditate upon 
how to help that loved one, and on the next 
anniversary do a kindness for some fellow-crea- 
ture. The opportunity will come just as soon 
as you leave your house to help some one in his 
or her name. It may be a lame child selling 
papers, an old woman whose burden you can 
carry or for whom you can supply coal. Once 
begin celebrating holidays, birthdays, or death- 
days by planting these immortelles, and your 
absent friends will gather the beauty of the 
blossoms. Earthly flowers wither almost before 
placed upon a grave, and the other is the better 
and lasting way. 

Meditate upon affluence and plenty, and hold 
that you are one with the world which is so 
rich. Your part in it will be received just as 

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SELF BUILDING 

soon as you learn how to bestow. Of late I 
have meditated upon the question of spending 
money. When I buy a ticket at a railway sta- 
tion, I think : " I have plenty. I love to spend ; 
it is a joy to spend that." Double will be re- 
turned to me. When teaching others try to be- 
stow upon them the fulness that you have 
accumulated upon life's journey, withholding 
nothing. What more are they seeking ? What 
more can you give than to point out the way 
over which you have been led from the jungle, 
where savage creatures seemed hidden behind 
each tree, to the "green pastures," where no 
dangers threaten ? Often you will be warned to 
tread lightly upon those who are armed by 
nature to dispute every foot of the way with the 
pilgrim journeying alone in the darkness. By 
non-resistance you will escape the harpies who 
would pluck from you your worldly goods ; one 
by one your burdens may be taken. To be freed 
from self one must often see all taken, and stand 
healed of mark or scar of battle — free. Having 
lost all burdens, great speed is gained. When 
you lose, know that your journey will be all the 
quicker into paths of peace, for you have gained 
speed to flee from the jungle before night gives 
added ferocity to the beasts of prey. 

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MEDITATION 

Silence is golden, therefore you should travel 
alone. In talking to companions, the force 
is spent which gives fleetness to your steps. 
Meditate upon this and learn the lesson. Walk 
alone, note how strong and fresh you feel. 
Walk and talk with some friend, and if you are 
in a dusty, noisy city, you will lose on all sides. 
Silence should always rule in your walks. When 
you climb a hill, think of life's journey as lead- 
ing to the heights. Think when you walk with 
heavy burdens that they are developing new and 
greater strength, so that when you come to the 
place where your burdens are taken, you will 
have developed new strength and power. When 
your physical is mounting hills, meditate upon 
strength ; look into the clear blue sky, and say, 
" I am slowly gaining power to come nearer to 
the sunlight." For those who wish to : meditate 
there is much to be gained by living upon a hill 
or mountain. 

When it snows, think of the earth dressed as 
a bride to welcome the bridegroom — spring. 
Love the rain and snow, and they will treat you 
kindly. Use the polished surface of the water 
as you would a crystal, and it will give you 
thought for meditation. The colors of the rain- 
bow are in each drop of water, waiting until the 

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SELF BUILDING 

rays of the sun strike upon it to bring illumination. 
I was once on the deck of a steamer where the 
Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic meet, watching 
the approach of a storm as the water changed 
from green to blue. Never have I seen anything 
more beautiful than that wealth of ocean color. 
Last summer, in watching the sands under my 
feet while bathing in a river, I often found that 
each wave created its little rainbow. I called 
several artists to view it, and although they had 
often bathed in that river, they had not dis- 
covered this beautiful color picture created by 
the motion of the waves. 

When you meditate upon environment, send 
out thoughts which will enable some one to step 
up into a position where more light will reach 
the hidden beauty of the soul and bring out 
the harmony of life. Meditate upon light, and 
give also of your oil to the foolish who have 
waited until the last and the dark hour is falling. 
On exemplifying the truths upon which we medi- 
tate, we gain power to journey on through the 
valley and shadow. If we would come to-day 
into the sunlight, we must do it by helping the 
weak who are travelling along life's highway. 
Charity does not always mean the giving of 
alms ; it is often bestowed in a word, a look, or 

164 



MEDITATION 

a smile. Sometimes a gentle rebuke is the true- 
est charity. Help from concentrated thought 
force is the most powerful aid which a psy- 
chologist can give. 

" Let the words of my mouth, and the medi- 
tation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, 
Lord, my Strength, and my Kedeemer." " The 
words of my mouth" are placed before "the 
meditation of my heart," so we should learn 
that lesson first. When we understand the law 
of vibration we shall realize that the speaker of 
harsh, unkind words is causing the greatest in- 
jury to himself by drawing his soul and mind 
into a coarse, earthly current, thereby clouding 
the divine light which should radiate from a 
healthy mind in a healthy body. The harm to 
others is no less serious, for even though every 
word is true, the repetition of unkind criticism 
holds the unhappy victim to error. We are all 
sensitive enough to see the color change in the 
physical when by words of censure we hold a 
weak brother to evil. Let the tongue be drilled 
to become an instrument to send out sounds of 
love and good-will. The heart is out of tune if 
we, knowing the laws, defy them, and allow our- 
selves to add to the vibrations of the lower, 
harsher, and death-dealing forces. 

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SELF BUILDING 

When in the presence of scandal-mongers, 
although we may know that the words uttered 
are true, we should realize the power that makes 
the person voice the ugly words, and instead of 
being weak and willing listeners, we should be 
brave enough to rebuke the spreader of scandal. 
Once I lived almost entirely alone. During the 
time a poor creature came to me for instruction, 
and repeated to me a revolting story of the sin 
of others. It was more detrimental than any 
infection she might have brought into that quiet 
room. It seemed impossible for me to ask her 
to return, so I said, u I will go to you if you 
require more teaching." At intervals of two 
or three days her offensive story presented itself 
to my mind. Resolve to bring nothing unclean 
into your neighbor's environment. In "The 
Red Cardinal" the master had a sitting room, 
over the mantelpiece of which, in large, plain 
letters, were the words, " We will speak no evil 
here." When a neighbor began to repeat a bit 
of unpleasant gossip, the master would look at 
the words, then at the speaker. It sufficed; 
silence reigned for a few seconds. If the story 
was told after that, it was told in another room. 
When repeating unpleasant gossip, what are we 
doing? Sending out vibrations of inharmony 

166 



MEDITATION 

which will sound on and on through the 
universe, bringing harm to all life upon the 
lower planes. When the effect of evil words 
rebounds upon us with great strength, we 
ignorantly wonder why we grow old and ugly, 
and sutler bodily ills. We should strive to make 
temples of our homes. Would one willingly sit 
down with a man who was suffering with small- 
pox or leprosy? Yet those who are prone to 
see faults in their neighbors are moral lepers, 
and do more harm even than physical lepers 
because of the unseen laws governing environ- 
ment and vibrations. 

" And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will 
draw all men unto me." If one person wishes 
to wallow in the mire, he need not pull others 
into a mud bath, whether they will or no. A 
false idea of politeness has made us unwilling 
victims long enough. Our duty is to speak the 
word which will end the harsh criticism. By 
listening we do almost as much harm as the 
speaker. I thought, at one time, that I had 
awakened in some degree to the soul life ; but 
when visiting a friend the name of a woman was 
mentioned, and I delivered a dissertation upon 
her faults. The lady with whom I was convers- 
ing made little comment, and I felt that her| 

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SELF BUILDING 

silence was a rebuke. Those who are earnestly- 
fighting for mastery over the tongue can imagine 
my mortification on leaving the house. A few 
weeks later I again visited my friend and met 
a sister of the hostess, and again the old topic 
was introduced. As though impelled by unseen 
demons, I repeated the unkind criticisms which 
I had voiced before, adding many more disagree- 
able facts. In a moment came the reaction, and 
I resolved that I would never again yield to that 
temptation. A third time I called, and the wom- 
an's name was mentioned; I mentally said, 
" Get thee behind me, Satan ! " I said aloud : 
"She will come out all right. We 'must hold 
her to the highest and best, and help her to be 
strong.'' I was well rewarded, for when I left 
the woman whose house I had twice contami- 
nated by evil speaking, she looked me in the eyes 
and said : " You are stronger, much stronger. I 
can see that you have gained poise in the last 
month." I knew that she had sent me thoughts 
of help and counsel which had lifted me to a 
higher plane, where I had realized that I had 
unconsciously been doing evil. 

By daily practice in concentration and medita- 
tion one can hold one thought, as the thought of 
light, and gain a fuller knowledge of its hidden 

168 



MEDITATION 

meaning and deepest purpose. Teachers of con- 
centration give the following abstract ideas upon 
which to meditate, — life, light, color, beauty, 
strength, love, kindness, charity, wisdom, justice, 
and mercy. By letting the mind dwell upon one 
of these ideas for a time, great fields of light will 
open, especially when we endeavor to get into 
the finer mental vibrations of great thinkers 
upon the same subject. " A man is known by 
the company he keeps " is eminently true. If 
we are in the company of great minds, we shall 
be influenced by them for advancement. It is 
said that people who have lived together for a 
long time grow to look alike. If we can become 
physically similar, it follows that a spiritual re- 
semblance is possible also. Let us pray to be 
given the power to radiate a sweet, pure influ- 
ence upon all with whom we come in contact, 
directly or indirectly. 

Meditate upon the seasons and try to see the 
deeper significance of each. Draw an analogy 
between the changes that nature makes in her 
annual round and the seasons of youth, manhood, 
and age. Find and learn to appreciate what is 
best in each period. Meditate upon the rest time 
which nature brings. Rest must come to all who 
would grow to new and greater things. Watch 

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SELF BUILDING 

the rest between the ocean waves. Meditate 
upon them, and rest as you meditate. We make 
a fatal mistake when we keep our minds fixed 
constantly upon material things. 

Look always for color, beauty, gladness, and 
harmony. Listen for words of peace and good- 
will. Think, " My meditations are attuned to 
the higher spheres, therefore I shall not pull 
my brother down." Affirm that you are draw- 
ing your fellow-creatures to ideal thoughts and 
lives, even to the standard given by our Elder 
Brother of Nazareth. Meditate upon His words. 
A book containing an index of subjects upon 
which the Master spoke, and indicating the 
place in the Scriptures where each could be 
found, greatly helped me. 

Take something good which you find in the 
life of another and meditate upon it. Never 
think of the weakness in another's life. You 
will grow to resemble that upon which you 
meditate ; think, then, of the brave, strong 
side of human nature. Look about you to 
find those who are striving to live "in tune 
with the Infinite." God is in all things which 
He hath made. Look everywhere for the good, 
the true, and the beautiful, and it will have a 
chance to unfold. When your tongue takes on 

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MEDITATION 

the sharpness of a two-edged sword, it is time 
to say : " Get thee behind me, Satan. I will 
have no such enemies within as you would 
create out of my tongue. By controlling my 
thoughts I rule this house which I inhabit. 
Go ! and come no more." 

"Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh 
to you." Let us so live that God may draw 
near to us in our homes, at our work, and in 
all the walks of life. Affirm that teachers will 
be given strength and power to point the way, 
going out daily with strength as of the mighty 
ocean, bearing frail crafts safely into port. 



171 



CHAPTER XIII 



BKEATHING 



And the Lord formed man of the dust of the ground, and 
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became 
a living soul. — Gen. ii. 7. 

THERE is a deeper significance in the word 
" breathed " than the mere inhaling and 
exhaling of air. The Latin word is spiro, and 
the word " spirit " comes from the same root. We 
learn that God breathed into man the breath 
of life, whereby he became a " living soul." 
Then shall we not say that the physical mean- 
ing is the least in order of importance ? Every 
act of life should have its spiritual prototype, 
and my chief object in introducing this chapter 
is to show how we may breathe "to the honor 
and glory of God." 

In previous chapters we considered first, how 
to free the joints and muscles of the body in 
order that they might act together in harmony ; 
second, how to dress that we might best declare 
oneness with the Infinite, showing that any gar- 

172 



BREATHING 

ment which impeded freedom of movement in 
any part of the body was harmful, bodily and 
spiritually ; third, what to eat that would best 
nourish our bodies, and subserve renunciation 
of animal appetites ; fourth, how to order our 
daily life so that worldly cares should not absorb 
too much time and attention ; fifth, the cleans- 
ing of our bodies as a means of learning self- 
control. At a casual glance these would all 
seem merely material considerations ; but those 
who are seeking self-unfoldment know that the 
highest, truest, best meaning of any act is its 
spiritual meaning. The later chapters deal 
more directly with the spiritual side of life, but 
that which is called the purely physical should 
not be neglected. One thing should be borne in 
mind : unless one is willing to pledge himself 
to abstain from blood-heating food, he need not 
hope to acquire power ; unless the fleshly desires 
are in subjection, spiritual growth is impossible. 
Does it seem too great a denial? Think, then, 
of the rewards ! 

One sure means of gaining power is in breath- 
ing exercises. With the muscles of the dia- 
phragm free to act, the lungs may be fully 
inflated without injury. Let the action be slow. 
Think while inhaling, "I am awakening, and 

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SELF BUILDING 

obtaining through the medium of this breath 
which I draw the omnipotent force which is 
within myself." While exhaling, think, " I 
would infuse omnipotence into every relation 
of my life." Let us imagine our breath as a 
carrying power for thought energy, sending out 
love to all the world in the exhalation, and in 
inhalation attracting all that is needful to our- 
selves. During breathing exercises listen care- 
fully that you make no noise. 

Just after a full meal never practise deep 
breathing, concentration, or meditation. Rather 
let four hours pass. Rest, not activity, is re- 
quired after eating. My teacher from India 
warned all who came into his class to abstain 
from flesh-eating, explaining that the blood 
produced by animal food was in no condition to 
be forced into new channels. Let the stomach 
be empty, even of water. The best time for 
breathing practice is in the morning before 
breakfast and immediately following the bath. 
It will also be beneficial just before luncheon, at 
bedtime, and it will be found an advantageous 
time when walking on a quiet street or country 
road. When about to ascend a flight of stairs, 
slowly fill the lungs with a deep breath and hold 
it until you reach the top- This practice will 

174 



BREATHING 

take away the unpleasant effects of stair-climb- 
ing to a great extent. 

Learn to watch your sleep. Whenever you 
turn you breathe on the upper side of the head, 
and by frequent changing you rest these organs. 
Never sleep with another person, as you will 
keep each other from turning, and will stay too 
long on one side of the body. Again it is very 
injurious for two people to sleep in the same 
room, as the air is vitiated more rapidly than it 
can be purified by ordinary methods of ventilation. 
Air should enter from the bottom of a window, 
and another window should be opened at the 
top that the exhausted air may escape. We 
live upon air as much as food. We can store 
up enough food to keep us alive for many days ; 
but let the supply of air be taken away but for 
a few moments, and we are quickly freed from 
the physical body. Windows are made that 
sunlight and air may enter. Some time ago a 
woman, the mother of ten children, entered 
my class. Her youngest child was a boy, four 
years old, and the only one of the family in deli- 
cate health. She asked advice. My first ques- 
tion was, " With whom does he sleep ? " She 
replied, "With his elder brother." I learned 
later that this older boy was in delicate health 

175 



SELF BUILDING 

before his brother slept with him. My direc- 
tions were simple, but imperative. " Feed him 
upon Granose and milk, let him sleep alone even 
if it has to be in the attic, and bathe him every 
day." Soon after I heard that the child had 
regained his health. No small part of this im- 
provement was due to his better conditions. 

The subjects of concentration, meditation, and 
deep breathing are so important and so closely 
allied that the following remarks from my 
former teacher, Swami Abhedananda, of India, 
published in the New York Sun, may prove 
helpful : — 

" Man can do certain things with matter which 
his ancestors could not do, and as he grows wiser 
and better he can learn to do things beside which 
the miracles of our time will pale into insignifi- 
cance. 

" In India, more than two thousand years ago, 
monks sat in their caves and made complete and 
accurate astronomical calculations without an 
instrument of any kind. In their silent medita- 
tions they saw and recognized the whole move- 
ment of the stellar world, which required years 
of observation from such men as Galileo, Sir 
Isaac Newton, and Sir William Herschel to work 
out with their telescopes and mathematical in- 

176 



BREATHING 

struments. The difference between their calcu- 
lations of the solar eclipses and those of the 
Western astronomers was but a few seconds in 
time. Without laboratories, they discovered 
many of the laws of chemistry. Some of these 
discoveries are on record in India. 

" How did they do these things ? By psychic 
control, the result of long mental concentration, 
whereby the mind may attain to complete 
domination over matter. You see, our minds 
in the ordinary condition are very closely asso- 
ciated with our bodies. But we know that our 
mind and our body are two very different things. 
Now, the more the mind, or rather the soul, is 
separated from the body, the more powerful and 
independent does it become, because this mind- 
soul is immortal. By concentration it is able, 
as it were, to detach itself from the body, and 
the more complete this detachment the greater 
will be its knowledge of matter. Now conceive, 
if you can, of a person who has learned by con- 
centration to take his mind out of his body, so 
to speak, and to look at the body and all other 
bodies as outside objects. If the separation of 
the mind is complete enough, that person will 
discover the secrets of nature without so much 
as going out of the room. Anything that the 

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SELF BUILDING 

mind happens to address itself to in this state it 
will grasp and understand. 

"Any person with a healthy body and mind 
can attain a considerable degree of mental con- 
centration by hard practice of the physical and 
mental exercises adopted by our yogis. All your 
hypnotists, clairvoyants, mind readers, and the 
like are illustrations of what a comparatively 
limited degree of concentration will do for the 
mind. Such persons use their minds for selfish 
ends as a rule. No Hindoo yogi ever does that. 
Any mind to become supremely powerful must 
have no material attachments or desires. It is 
therefore possible for comparatively few mortals 
at one time to rise to a very high psychic state, 
for the conditions involve not only the vows of 
chastity and poverty, a strictly vegetable diet, 
absolute honesty, and universal love, but days 
and months of continuous meditation. Some 
persons are born predisposed to this psychic state, 
as persons are born geniuses, and others seem to 
blunder upon it without knowing just how they 
got their powers. Every great genius, great re- 
former, and, in fact, great character of any sort 
must have more or less of it. 

"The state of the mind at all times is de- 
pendent physiologically upon three things, — the 

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BREATHING 

brain, the spinal cord, and the breath. These 
three must work in absolute harmony before the 
mind can fully concentrate itself upon itself or 
any object without. Concentration is the goal. 
Now it has been found that the brain, the spinal 
cord, and the breathing can be trained to work 
in such unison that a powerful rhythmic flow of 
nervous energy can be created. This tremendous 
current of nervous energy, upon reaching the 
brain, produces entirely new reactions. Every 
thought or idea produced by means of the brain 
is the result of some sort of reaction taking place. 
The vividness of such ideas depends upon the in- 
tensity of the reaction, and the intensity of the 
reaction depends upon the strength of the nerve 
current producing it. These nerve currents are 
rushing to the brain and resulting in reactions 
every moment of our lives, although we are not 
conscious of a great many of them. Now, if one 
can manage to send new and greatly increased 
nerve currents to one's brain, they are sure to 
produce new and greater reactions. That is just 
what occurs when the brain, the spinal cord, and 
the breathing are working in harmony, for then 
the motion of the current is rhythmic, circulating 
from foot to head. 

" The manner of breathing has much to do 
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SELF BUILDING 

with the result. When the breath passes into 
the lungs, just opposite the thorax, it sets in, or 
rather keeps up, the two nerve currents that pass 
up and down the spinal column to the brain and 
other parts of the body. Every inhalation and 
exhalation completely controls the motion of 
these currents. If the inhalation and exhalation 
are irregular, the currents are of necessity irregu- 
lar. Irregular currents are without rhythm, and 
it is the rhythmic motion of the currents that pro- 
duces the wonderful thrilling reaction of the brain. 
" But what is rhythm in this case ? All elec- 
tric currents are by nature rhythmic; that is, the 
motion is all in the same direction. In an ordi- 
narily quiet room there is a good deal of motion, 
almost enough to knock us down if it were all 
in the same direction ; but being in all directions 
we do not feel it. Let it move in the same direc- 
tion and you would see what a whirlwind would 
take possession of the room. Just such motion 

— uninterrupted electric motion, as it were, 

— is wanted for the nerve currents. But there 
is scarcely a person in a million who breathes in 
a rhythmic manner, or who has any sort of con- 
trol over the breath. This must be acquired by 
hard practice. One of the great difficulties for 
an unhealthy person to overcome in acquiring 

180 



BREATHING 

the art of rhythmic breathing is the irregular 
change of breath from one nostril to the other. 
In a perfectly well person the breath changes 
from one nostril to the other about every two 
hours ; but in poor health the breath sometimes 
remains in one nostril for hours and even days 
at a time. In such condition it is impossible to 
maintain rhythmic circulation. 

"Did you ever observe the manner of your 
breathing when the mind is aglow with some 
great idea or engrossed with some tremendous 
problem ? How regular and quiet the breathing 
becomes in such moments, but the motion is 
perfectly rhythmic. The nerve currents are 
moving through their channels without the 
slightest obstacle. The mind at such moments 
is in a profound state of concentration, which 
has been accomplished by the regularity of the 
breath, which has in its turn produced the regu- 
lar nerve currents. We speak of watching a 
play or hearing a speech with breathless inter- 
est. "We yogis in India try to emulate this 
lesson from nature. We go to some quiet place, 
assume an easy posture, in which the chest, 
neck, and head will be on a perpendicular line 
and the spinal cord will hang straight down. 
Then we practise this slow, measured breathing 

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SELF BUILDING 

three or four times a day, until we have acquired 
the habit. The exercises are begun in childhood, 
and a yogi's breath is as regular as the tick of 
a watch, under any circumstances, for he has 
acquired absolute mastery of it. 

" Now a person who has not acquired this 
habit should begin by practising fifteen minutes 
at a time, at sunrise, or on resting at noon, at 
sunset, and on retiring. After a few weeks of 
such practice, if it has been done with a desire 
to concentrate the mind, he will notice that a 
change is coming over his nerves. He has be- 
come calmer and more serene, less liable to irri- 
tation and disturbance from his circumstances. 
If he continues to persevere, the health will 
greatly improve, wrinkles will depart from the 
skin, and it will acquire a sort of clearness and 
transparency indicative of high thinking and 
clean living. The voice will grow soft. No 
yogi ever had a harsh, creaking voice, for the 
breath has as much control over the voice as 
over the nerves. It not only creates the 
rhythmic nerve currents, but it purifies and 
strengthens the nerves as well. 

"But we in India have another breathing 
exercise that enables us to reach a much higher 
state of psychic action. This is forcing the 

182 



BREATHING 

change of breath from nostril to nostril. The 
greater the reaction in any part of the brain 
the greater the concentration of all other parts 
to that part. Why do we speak of one's being 
absent-minded while walking along the street? 
Because his mind is detached from the things 
about him and is busy with some strong reac- 
tion produced from within. Now, when we 
force the breath we increase the rhythmic 
nervous flow, and consequently the reaction in 
the brain cells. 

" The spinal cord in every human being con- 
tains two regular nerve fibres, — one down the 
right side and the other down the left side. In 
the centre of the cord is a very small hollow 
tube, open through the medulla, which connects 
the cord with the brain, and this tube reaches to 
the lower end of the cord. Western physiologists 
have never known what this hollow tube was for, 
for it is completely closed up at the lower end 
of the cord in the average person, who employs 
only the nerve fibres on either side for the 
transmission of the nerve currents. But the 
yogi has found a most important use for this 
hollow tube, once he has succeeded in opening 
its lower end. 

" Connected with the cord at its lower end is 
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SELF BUILDING 

a small bundle of nerve fibres in the form of a 
triangle. This bundle or coil is a great battery, 
supplying nervous energy. By forcing breath 
from side to side and increasing the rhythm, 
one will be able to arouse this coil and to force 
open its connection with the hollow tube in the 
cord. This done, a sweeping current is sent up 
the hollow tube to the brain. It is precisely like 
telegraphing without wires. Now the current is 
open and every inhalation and exhalation of the 
breath keeps the current in rhythmic motion, 
passing through the great potential nerve coil at 
the lower end of the spinal cord, sweeping up 
through this hollow tube, and reacting into the 
gray-coated cells of the brain. This nerve cir- 
cuit is open in all real yogis, and that is why 
they can sit for hours and meditate and bring 
their minds to the highest state of detachment. 

"Begin this exercise by closing the right 
nostril with the thumb and slowly inhaling for 
four seconds through the left nostril. Imagine 
while doing this that you are sending a current 
down the spinal column. Hold your breath for 
sixteen seconds and try to imagine that you are 
forcing the current through this triangular nerve 
coil. Then close your left nostril and open your 
right, through which you are now to exhale the 

184 



BREATHING 

breath at the rate of eight seconds. In this last 
you must try to imagine that you are drawing 
the current up the spinal cord. Then inhale 
through the right and exhale through the left. 
Do this for four times at a sitting and practise 
three times a day, — morning, noon, and even- 
ing ; always assume an upright, easy posture, in 
which the ribs will support the body and the 
spinal cord hang free. While in this exercise 
allow no one to disturb you. 

" Some persons will begin to feel the effects 
of this exercise in a very short time. For others 
it will take months. But its success means a 
revolution in the psychic existence of any per- 
son. A person of evil mind and body may 
acquire some power in this way, but only tempo- 
rarily, for right thinking and right living are 
absolutely necessary to reach and hold a high 
state of such psychic existence, and there is danger 
for any person who follows these exercises and 
leads an unchaste life of becoming insane. 

" When one is well on the road to success, the 
mental phenomena sometimes appearing will 
often startle him. One will now and then see 
flashes of beautiful light, hear sounds of sweet 
music, and smell most fragrant odors, which 
would be entirely imperceptible to the ordinary 

185 



SELF BUILDING 

senses. As the mind gains control the body 
seems to become slighter and much less sensi- 
tive to pain, hunger, thirst, and other animal 
feelings. The rhythmic thrill and the mental 
calmness and indifference to ordinary desires 
and troubles cannot be described to one who has 
not experienced this exalted state. You lie 
down and you sleep to rest your body and mind, 
but you scarcely know what real rest is until 
you have successfully practised these exercises. 
A real yogi never sleeps as you do. He simply 
rests in a state of consciousness. 

"To aid further the concentration of the 
mind, there are a number of purely mental 
exercises, such as fixing the eyes for fifteen 
minutes on the tip of the nose, fixing the im- 
agination on some point in the heart or some 
other part of the body, and tracing the feeling 
of the clothing on the skin from the foot to the 
head. In many cases the mind is set to wander- 
ing and made to watch its rambling. Then we 
discover that something in us which does the 
watching like a mother over her child, that 
something none of us can understand, for that 
is the soul. ,, 

The swami was asked if these exercises would 
help to make a genius of the average mind. 

186 



BREATHING 

"Yes," he immediately answered, "the per- 
ceptive faculties of the mind are greatly benefited 
by the purification of the nerves in these breath- 
ing exercises. Genius is memory of world facts 
and concentration, and by such training the mind 
can more readily concentrate itself upon any sub- 
ject. The inclination, however, of every person 
who has attained to a high psychic state is to 
withdraw himself from the affairs of the world, 
for he finds more happiness in company with his 
soul. But, as I said a while ago, the subjective 
training of the mind will prove to be superior to 
its objective training for the understanding of 
the physical nature. The mind is capable of 
understanding all the secrets of matter without 
so much as making an objective examination of 
them. This is the goal of the mind. Do not for- 
get that." 



187 



CHAPTER XIV 

HARMONY 

THE subject of harmony is one of great im- 
portance because it touches our relations 
with the Infinite. A high authority has happily 
expressed it, " Harmony with one's self is health ; 
harmony with others is love ; and harmony with 
the Universe is immortality. " 

What is harmony in self building ? It is be- 
ing " in tune with the Infinite/' and the question 
to be answered is, How tune the physical instru- 
ment so that it may vibrate in unison with the 
music of the celestial spheres ? We must begin 
by so ordering our sleeping moments that we 
shall awake in harmony with the light of a new 
day. Never allow yourself to fall asleep as soon 
as you lie down. Rest quietly on the back, re- 
laxing joints and muscles, and, composing the 
mind, fix the subconsciousness upon high and 
holy desires. On awaking, give thanks for the 
new day ; in other words, throw open the mental 
gates that the light of harmony may enter your 

188 



HAKMONY 

soul. Opening these flood-gates brings the reali- 
zation of harmony — heaven — here and now. It 
is possible to live so near to nature that use of 
a more exalted, luminous body may be gained 
long before the mortal body is laid aside. 

A mother tells this story : " One evening, 
while thinking of my only child, from whom I 
was separated by force of circumstance, the de- 
sire to see her became so strong that I fell asleep 
silently praying for her and for the strength to 
bear my burden of loneliness. In the night I 
awoke, and again took up the prayer. Soon I 
found myself in a far-away Southern home. 
Kind, gentle hands had set me free to move 
about ; my hands and feet moved as when swim- 
ming, and the undulating motion was like the 
rise and fall of the prairie grass swaying to and 
fro under the impulse of a gentle breeze. At once 
I thought, ' I am not afraid, for I have gained 
consciousness in the astral body,' and I could see 
and feel distinctly the form of this new instru- 
ment which concentrated love and prayer had 
helped me to consciously use as a means of eas- 
ing my almost broken mother-heart. How beau- 
tiful was this fair, luminous new body ! I knew 
that the other body was resting in a tent far 
away, and that in this light, shadowy form I 

189 



SELF BUILDING 

was more awake to all things than before. Just 
then I passed through an article of furniture, yet 
I seemed material enough. I saw my daughter 
sleeping, and I wondered if my hand would pass 
through her dear face. Inexpressibly happy that 
I had the privilege of seeing her, I laid my hand 
upon her cheek. This must have aroused her, 
for the next thing I knew I struck my physical 
body, and entered it with such force that it was 
like a strong, electric current passing over me. 
Then I heard a voice saying, ( Magnetize your- 
self ! Magnetize yourself ! ' How could I do 
that ? Then the thought came, ' May each par- 
ticle of this body be kept to the honor and 
glory of God ! ' I arose and left my tent, and, 
gazing upon the first rays of light, joy pos- 
sessed my soul, for space was nothing to me. 
I had learned a great secret of life, and would 
use it to grow better in word and deed, help- 
ing others for the sake of those who had taken 
pity upon my anguish and given me the power 
to see my little one far away, No matter what 
happened now, I was master of the material 
body, and understood that concentrated thought 
could eliminate and overcome space." 

On telling this mother's experience to a great 
Hindoo sage, he said : " She is a most fortunate 

190 



HARMONY 

woman, for she can know all things now she is 
free, and will need no teachers. It is the 
greatest blessing, and comes only to those who 
lead pure lives. All wisdom follows in its train, 
for she can go where she wishes and learn all 
laws now that she has entered the open door." 
Another friend informed me that she had gained 
consciousness in a shadow body, but that no one 
whom she had told was willing to believe it, for 
they were living on their lowest plane, and were 
unable to realize other than material matters. A 
woman whose illumination was never questioned 
told me that for six years she had used a finer 
body, and perhaps Christ used His astral body 
when He walked upon the water. It is indeed 
a fact that many men and women to-day are able 
to do a grand work in the world by going con- 
sciously into their astral bodies. 

In my class in Lynn, Massachusetts, were two 
pupils whose eyes plainly declared them psychics. 
Just before the class closed, a lady gained this 
power, though not consciously. A gentleman 
who was interested in the study was sitting in 
his room when she entered through the closed 
door and approached him. He at once recog- 
nized her as a member of the class. She 
advanced toward him and said, " I wish to 

191 



SELF BUILDING 

thank you for taking so much interest in my 
friend's work." He replied, " As I have never 
spoken to you before, how do you know 
that I am interested ? " His visitor smiled, and 
answered, " We know all things without being 
told." She then began to retreat, assuring him 
that her purpose was simply to thank him. 
Meantime her physical body was resting upon 
her bed several blocks away. 

When you hear the hum of an electric car, 
think what power that sound represents. Claim 
strength from all earth vibrations, and in time 
it will come, even from the music of a hand- 
organ or hurdy-gurdy. Never pass one by with- 
out a contribution, for a work is being done by 
these humble musicians ; in a measure they are 
lifting people out of earthly conditions. When 
passing down a street intent upon a business 
engagement, the music from a harp and two 
violins arrested my attention, and I waited to 
listen. Others were enjoying it as much as I, 
yet no one felt disposed to help on the good work. 
How joyful would have been the strains had all 
joined with me in giving a bright piece of sil- 
ver ! We should not reward such people with 
copper, for they are doing so much to lift hu- 
manity heavenward. Thank God for the street 

192 



HARMONY 

musicians who enable us to enter the world of 
harmony. Be kind to them, for they are a part 
of God's band of messengers to busy people as 
well as to idlers and children. 

Why send out thoughts of hatred, avarice, 
distrust, and uncharitableness, thereby creating 
inharmonious vibrations which rebound and injure 
the sender ? We should live in this " house not 
made with hands " as a teacher tells me they 
live in the higher spheres — there in trans- 
parent houses, where all that is thought or done 
can be seen and heard by those who pass. In 
this way all teaching is done, all help extended. 
It would be well to resolve to begin the founda- 
tions of such homes on earth, and live with the 
thought of helping others by the example of our 
private lives. Living with this purpose, how we 
should hesitate when tempted to mention the 
weakness of a brother or sister ; if we thought 
the angels were listening to the discordant 
sounds, how careful we should be ! I learned 
from a teacher that in the spirit realm, human 
thoughts, if inharmonious, cause such a commo- 
tion that a psychic, leaving the mortal body for a 
time, is bewildered by the din. How often every 
day do we add to the confusion by the inward 
expression of our desire for mere material 

193 



SELF BUILDING 

advantage springing from selfishness ! No 
wonder that a friend, when first projecting 
himself upon the psychic plane, declared that 
the sound as of a mighty ocean reached his 
ears. He asked the masters, " What sound is 
that?" The answer was, "The thoughts of 
the people of earth." Let us try to keep our 
thoughts so pure, clean, full of love, trust, and 
pity for our enemies that the music above the 
earth will grow more and more harmonious, and 
our bodies will then grow more healthy and 
beautiful in form and expression. 

I can imagine the ocean of sound by having 
heard a Texas norther blowing over the un- 
broken prairies, striking the telegraph wires as 
Beethoven struck those grand chords in his 
wondrous sonatas. He, too, must have listened 
to such an aeolian harp as that. 

A child of the prairie soon learns to find 
music in the running brook, the fall of water 
over some distant mill-dam, the bleating of the 
flocks, and in the tinkle, tinkle, tinkle of those 
little brass-throated bells pulsing out upon the 
sultry air as the cattle graze from place to place. 
How well I remember one afternoon in Maine 
when my ear was startled with the sound of a 
bell ! It seemed like a sound from home. I was 

194 



HARMONY 

again a child, with mother, father, friends, and 
home. The picture grew under the music, and 
my heart grew young and happy. The music I 
heard was only the tinkle of a little bell on the 
neck of a sheep feeding on the hillside, but was 
it not blessed that such a lowly instrument 
should bring such beautiful pictures and produce 
such harmony ? Would that I could teach 
others to find solace and comfort in listening to 
the little people of the grass ! What is sweeter 
than the cricket's chirp? Dickens must have 
listened to it, and so gained inspiration to arouse 
the English people to feel pity for Joe or drop a 
tear for Nell. 

In Seguin, Texas, one bright, sunny day, as I 
chanced to pass a beautiful private park, I heard 
such music as mortals are seldom privileged to 
hear. The Mexican concert birds had come, 
thousands strong, and were singing their love 
songs. In color they were like the leaves of 
trees on which they perched, and the harmony 
from their yellow-green throats was glorious. I 
seemed to be listening to the Choir Invisible. 
First there was a grand burst of music, then a 
solo, then a quartette, and finally the brilliant 
chorus. A friend once gave the money to me to 
purchase five tickets for the concerts of a famous 

195 



SELF BUILDING 

symphony orchestra to receive inspiration. I 
went once, but, compared with the music of the 
Mexican birds, the man-made music seemed so 
spiritless that I bought seed and went into the 
woods and fed the brave little birds who re- 
mained with me in this snow-covered country. 
Poor, fine, grand symphony ! I tried hard to 
be pleased with it. The little Mexican birds 
were singing for joy that they had found such 
a beautiful wood in which to rest after their 
journey ; the Boston men had not the gladness 
which speaks to the child of the prairie — their 
melody was so full of brain that soul inspiration 
was lacking. From a coarse, gross body fed 
upon beer and animal food how can we expect 
the music which would lift us to a higher state 
of enjoyment, where the vibrations would be 
perfectly harmonious? Had these men fasted 
for days, as the concert-birds had done, perhaps 
the soul would have been more manifest in the 
music. Bulwer taught the lesson in " Zanoni." 
Violet was doing her work to help another, and 
her denial of self appealed to the listening mys- 
tic. If our musicians worked more for the love 
of the art, or to help others, how it would tell 
in their songs ! The music would carry a new 
power which would draw us nearer the Infinite 

196 



HARMONY 

Source of all harmony. We must try to under- 
stand that all our daily thoughts and acts should 
be one continual rhythm of love and good-will. 
The very passing along the street of one who 
lives in the higher, nobler, cleaner vibrations 
gives strength to the weak. 

One should be able to hear music in the voice 
of a child ; for it is innocence which speaks to 
trained ears like the cooing of a dove to its mate. 

I have stood long and listened to the fall of 
a tiny, clear stream singing its way down a New 
England hillside, and watched the rainbow colors 
flashing out from the icicles about the brink into 
which it fell. And oh, the sea! How often 
have I listened to the voice of the mighty deep, 
and realized that the strength of the waves is 
His also ! Lull your conscious thought, go into 
the deep subconscious mind, and listen to the 
wash of the waves upon the shore. Then think, 
" I am one with its strength, breadth, and music." 

Happy is the human being who has been 
taught to listen to notes which teach the Mas- 
ter's message to His children. Send no more 
earthly thoughts to fill space with inharmony. 
To-day the scientist has learned that he can 
heal the sick with musical sounds, and the 
insane are freing successfully restored to their 

197 



SELF BUILDING 

right minds by music. Every person has a 
key-note. Take a violin and find the key-note 
of a bridge, and play faster and faster, and 
the vibrations in the structure will shatter it. 
For this reason soldiers are bidden to break 
rank step when crossing a bridge. Thoughts 
of fear, hatred, and malice will likewise shatr 
ter the human body. 

Each inanimate thing has its key-note; why 
should not man, also? When we reach a cer- 
tain rate of vibration, and hear the sound of 
a voice, we can tell on what plane the speaker 
spends most of his time. And often we meet 
persons who go from one psychic plane to 
another as the fleshy instrument vibrates from 
one key to another. I remember one friend 
in whom the change is most marked. I know 
at once whether she is on the physical, mental, 
psychical, or spiritual plane. Perhaps it would 
be possible to remain longer upon the latter 
if people lived more harmoniously. Spiritual 
power would not then be forced to depart and 
make way for earthly cares; for many fall to 
the minor when their true key is major, 
hence so much physical discord. 

A physician said: "Your name is familiar; 
I once had an old friend by that name. He 

198 



HARMONY 

was an inventor, and had been very wealthy, 
but at the time I knew him he was old and 
poor, yet he was as happy a human being as 
I ever met. He would tell visitors that he 
heard the music of an invisible orchestra, and 
would say, ' Take that bar over again — you 
did not do it quite correctly.' He never cared 
to leave his room or go to a concert, for he 
had that grand orchestra to do his bidding." 
I, too, have heard of one of the name who 
was very pure and clean of life. He was ill 
for a year, and days before his death, with his 
mind perfectly clear, he said to those about 
his bed, " The music which I hear is not fitted 
to mortal ears." A legend of the family is 
that invisible bands discoursing sweet music 
pass over the old Virginia homestead when a 
member of the family is about to leave for 
the spirit world. Servants as well as relatives 
hear the strains. In the case of the old 
man described by the physician, perhaps these 
heavenly messengers did not wait for death, 
but brought cheer and blessing to him in his 
loneliness. Let us live in such harmony that 
to our listening ears, also, may come the angelic 
strains of a supernatural melody too ethereal 
for mortal ears to hear. 

199 



SELF BUILDING 

We do much harm when we criticise a neigh- 
bor's weakness, for in mentioning that weakness 
to another we create inharmonious vibrations 
which may return and retard our own spiritual 
growth. We carry the mirror and see what we 
reflect. How can we expect harmony when, 
having brought the soul by high thinking into 
a state of finer vibration, we fail to employ the 
tuner to set the physical in order ? One of my 
spiritual teachers told me that a magazine con- 
taining an unfavorable criticism was once brought 
to him to read. He said, " I'll subscribe for that 
magazine and read the whole article." After the 
visitor had departed he heard a voice saying, 
" Go into the council chamber." He went, feel- 
ing that he was to go in for some teaching on his 
own account, and the voice said : " You enjoy 
hearing that some one is trying to tear down a 
work or temple which another has built. Just 
as sure as you take a hand in pulling down a 
neighbor's temple, your own must fall. Take 
care how you enjoy even listening to such talk 
as that, for it pulls you into vibrations of strife 
and discord, and you want to be in harmony to 
hear the Father's message." 

If a piano tuner talks of the bad state of the 
instrument he is called upon to tune, instead: of 

200 



HARMONY 

setting to work with hammer and fork to bring 
into harmony, his time is wasted, and nothing is 
accomplished. Let our tongues be tuned into 
tuning-forks, that we may bring others into har- 
mony, instead of falling to their pitch by speak- 
ing of their inharmony. Why do we require 
our friends to stand always in the sunlight? 
The night comes to those even in high places. 
Do not open your eyes in astonishment when you 
cannot see the unfoldment because of the dark- 
ness which has fallen. Trust and hope. Think 
of the night-blooming jasmine and cereus ; they 
give out sweetness while nature sleeps, and 
shall we say that they are not open because the 
night shadows have dimmed our sight ? 

Learn to watch yourselves when you sleep. 
Many blessings come to mankind when they have 
learned to sleep consciously. I am told that an 
adept who reaches a high state of spiritual devel- 
opment is perfectly conscious when the physical 
body is resting. It is in the night that most 
people see into the future. Often it will be the 
sickness of a favorite child, and that child may 
be a thousand miles away. What the trouble 
is, even how long the sickness will last, will be 
clearly seen. When prepared to enter upon the 
psychic or spiritual planes, a new life is opened:, 

201 



SELF BUILDING 

and one realizes that these are the real and pre- 
cious moments, more to be desired than days of 
life upon the purely physical plane. 

When we have learned how to spend our time 
in these higher realms, " we awake in tune with 
the Infinite,' ' where all is harmony, peace, and 
love. But is it all ease ? By no means. Our 
friends will very likely think us strange, and 
often criticise us unmercifully for what, to them, 
seem impossible assertions. They have lived so 
long on the material plane that anything which 
has not come to them seems heresy. 

The following story was told me by a poor 
woman : " Twenty-two years ago I had a vision 
of going out alone, penniless, hopeless, friendless, 
childless, yet I had done no evil to a human 
being, and even felt pity for those who had 
driven me forth like Hagar of old, except that 
they had taken my Ishmael. I saw the faces 
of my old friends turn away as I went past. 
In the vision I saw the cars loaded with fright- 
ened people fleeing from the plague of yellow 
fever. With summer twenty-four years later 
the vision began to unfold. There came poverty, 
persecution, hatred, and the loss of my lovely 
daughter through my inability to provide her 
with a home. My one friend, a woman poorer 

202 



HARMONY 

than myself, and treated with almost as little 
consideration by those for whom she willingly 
worked without receiving remuneration, gave 
me shelter. But hatred and malice found me 
out, and my protector was urged to let me drift. 
I said, ' My vision is unfolding ; when we have 
yellow fever and the people begin to flee from 
their homes, I, too, will be going.' In spite of 
the threats against my protector if she did not 
turn me out into the world, she bravely sheltered 
me, saying, 6 1 am seventy-three years old, and I 
have never refused succor to one of God's crea- 
tures, and I will not send away this feeble 
woman.' The woman of hate said, 'She will 
be in your house until Christmas.' The noble 
woman replied, ■ Then she shall eat Christmas 
dinner with me, and welcome.' God bless her 
for those words. But I did not remain until 
the season of c peace on earth, good-will to men.' 
Fever appeared, and the force compelling me 
was so strong that I set forth. On the cars 
we had to show passes, telling whence we came. 
Fear possessed the people on every hand. On 
arriving at a more northern city, I found that 
nearly all hotels in the city were thought to 
be infected — even the railroad station was 
tainted. Knowing not where to turn, I finally 

203 



SELF BUILDING 

made my way to a home for children, where I 
had stayed six weeks during a previous visit 
to the city. I had spent those weeks begging 
for comforts for the homeless little ones, and I 
hoped that I, now homeless, might again be 
received. The Sister met me at the door with 
the announcement that the plague had entered 
there. I was invited to remain, but feared that 
I should fall a victim to the disease and have 
to be buried at the expense of the city, so on 
I went. I remembered the words of the Christ, 
' The foxes have holes, and the birds of the 
air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not 
where to lay his head/ and I felt nearer to Him 
than ever before. While walking down the 
street I met an old friend coming out of a 
store. Her handsome trap and spirited horses 
were waiting at the curb. She said: 'Come 
home with me. I shall be glad to hear all the 
news from the old home. Drive home, John.' 
The joy of it ! This beautiful mansion out of 
the fever-stricken district to be my first home 
on the road in search of Divine Truth ! The 
beautiful room, the soft bed with its cool, fresh 
linen — how good it felt to my weary limbs ! 
At last harmony was mine. What a thanks- 
giving I sent up to the throne of God ! I smiled 

204 



HARMONY 

as I folded my hands in sleep — the first smile 
since the vision began to unfold, live months 
before. Was not the coming of this friend a 
real manifestation of spirit power to help and 
care for a modern Hagar? It seemed so to 
me, and all along the road each day thereafter 
was provided just what I required, — money, 
teachers, rest, friends.' ' 

Let us hold ourselves responsive to the notes 
of love, peace, joy, and good-will, and refuse to 
see visions such as the above by taking a positive 
mental attitude against them when presented. 
Then the frowns and criticisms of our fellows can- 
not harm us, and we shall be able to say with 
Paul, " None of these things move me, neither 
count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might 
finish my course with joy." 



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